Una bellissima storia vera, raccontata in maniera semplice e diretta. Ancora una volta bravo Follett.

Remember the Iranian hostage crisis of '79? Well, in 1978--before things arrived at that disastrous point in Iran's revolution against the Shah--several Americans found themselves imprisoned (in actuality, kidnapped and held for ransom) by the Iranian government, only to be abandoned by the American Embassy while the country fell apart around them.

Now remember Ross Perot of the 90s presidential races? Well, the men kidnapped were senior executives of Perot's company EDS. Unwilling to leave his men stranded, and unable to get his own government to intervene, Perot put together a daring and SUCCESSFUL rescue. Based on extensive interviews with all the parties involved, Follett creates a detailed account of the events leading up to and covering the kidnapping, rescue, and homecoming of the EDS employees.

The story takes on a greater significance as you come to realize that it was likely some of those same American Embassy personnel who ended up as the infamous hostages of 1979.

Now for a personal and somewhat embarrassing admission: The cartoon show Animaniacs, which was a huge favorite in my house, did a spoof of Ross Perot in one of their episodes. It was hilarious! And, yeah--it made it hard for me to take Perot's character in the book seriously. :)

Sehr spannend und immer wieder faszinierend! Man fiebert sehr mit den Charakteren mit und ist gespannt wie es weitergeht. Blöd ist nur,dass mitten im Buch sich einige Bilder befinden,welchen man den Ausgang der Odyssee schon erfährt. Dennoch blieb die Spannungskurve erhalten!

On The Wings Of Eagles did not seem as good as Ken Follett’s fictional works, but still is quite readable for a non-fiction narrative. Follett did an excellent job at describing H. Ross Perot (his motivations, life, and character) and how his loyalty to two of his employees imprisoned in Iran led to him using his connections to create a rescue team. The narrative was not overly dry or tedious, but various parts of the book failed to capture my interest and I ended up skim reading these sections. Still the story was quite extraordinary, and Ken Follett did a good job at using words to tell the reader what Iran was like.

Decent retelling by a great author of Ross Perot’s emergency evacuation of his employees from Iran in 1978-1979.

This is one of those books that I did not get around to reading when it first came out in 1983, but it was worth the wait... I throughly enjoyed it. Basically the book follows the actual events and participants in the imprisonment and eventual release of two IT specialists in Iran who worked for EDS, Ross Perot's computer systems firm back in the late 70s. It reads like a who-done-it, but the story is true and the dialog is as true to life as the participants could remember when telling of their experiences to Ken Follet, the author in preparing the book. Most of the individuals were just everyday engineers... nothing special or heroic about them until faced with real-like situations. Of course Ross Perot was, and still is, an out-of-this-world character who, using his vast fortunes, was able to arrange a story-book rescue led by a story-book retired Vietnam vet who knew all of the dirty tricks for setting up a prison rescue. A third individual, a young EDS employee who had been working for EDS in Tehran, also comes to light and is instrumental in getting the entire EDS team out of the country during the early days of the Iranian revolution after the fall of the Shah.

Wow. Talk about a page turner. I can't believe this book escaped my attention for so long, especially since it was written by one of my very favorite authors, but it was worth the wait. Also, full disclosure, I am a Ross Perot fan. He is the only presidential candidate that I have ever voted for because I actually liked him and not because it was the lesser of two evils.
If you like spy thrillers, you will love this book.

Corporate derring do as the US government and US military are hamstrung by policy. Leave it to Ross Perot, middle-aged rescuers dedicated to saving wrongly imprisoned Americans, bags of money, tons of luck, all against the backdrop of Iran descending into mayhem and anarchy after the Shah was deposed. Oh, yeah, add that the team was headed up by legendary Special Forces operative "Bull" Simons, and you will know why this had to be made into a movie starring Burt Lancaster.

On Wings of Eagles is the true story of an epic rescue lead by Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Corporation's executive Ross Perot, as he sends a selective group of his own employees into Iran to break two of his coworkers, Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord, out of an Iranian prison for crimes which they did not commit against that country’s government. It is retold by author Ken Fallot, a novelist known for his action-driven style of writing, and it shows as he brings this already amazing story to life using the power of his pen, giving the story a flair that most non-fiction books do not have. The five-star, must read On Wings of Eagles is a terrific piece for the advanced, high school reader, the novel retelling in shocking accuracy what Perot’s men endured in the midst of an Iranian revolution in order to save both their coworkers and their friends.

    The story begins in EDS’s headquarters in Iran, the company attempting to make a social security system for Iranian citizens using electronic data. Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord are the leaders of this operation, and both are surprised to receive a message from the Iranian government claiming that a monetary transaction error had been detected. When they went in for questioning, the government had no physical or verbal evidence to support the charges issued to Chiapparone and Gaylord, and yet they were arrested anyway by the corrupting Iranian government. Ross Perot, the head of EDS Corporation Worldwide, was furious to find that two of his most trusted men that he personally sent to the Middle East were captured for no explainable or logical reason. Perot felt as if it was his fault. For this reason, when the United States Government refused to offer help, he took the situation into his own hands and asked a select group of volunteers to fly into Iran and, without getting caught themselves, break Chiapparone and Gaylord out of jail. It was the true instance of an impossible mission that was so crazy that it just might work.

    Overall, the story is surprising fascinating for a nonfiction read, describing in fairly vivid detail the conditions which these men had to endure and live through while in the Middle East in order to rescue their friends, which included living in a nation which had fallen to anarchy due to the rise of Iranian rebels. The men do not seem anything like the heros one imagines from Greek or Roman legends, having physical and emotional problems that are very relatable to readers. Yet these men are heros nonetheless, sacrificing themselves in order to save two men which are not even blood-related to them, showings excellent examples of courage, patience, valor, and loyalty.

    This book, as mentioned earlier, is great for the advanced high school reader. Despite being considered a nonfiction work, it feels quite the opposite, written like a fictional story that takes readers on an unbelievable journey across the globe into an unknown world of corruption and violence. Wonderfully inspiring, On Wings of Eagles is a nonfiction story pieced together beautifly by Ken Fallot that is effortlessly and enjoyably read.

The true story of how Ross Perot organized a secret rescue team to get his captive employees out of Iran when the U.S. government couldn't be bothered. Good tension throughout, almost read like a novel. Some members of our book club felt the book could have been shortened. If it had been, I'm not sure all the facts would have been properly presented.

Better than Argo. I'm never going to Iran.

Wow. What an incredible story of beating the odds.
This story is based on the real-life events of EDS (an American company contracted to create a social-security type system in Iran) and Ross Perot's quest to help his EDS employees escape the hands of the acting Iranian government.
Though parts of this story drag a bit, it is an interesting cast of characters involved in this plot... it's also interesting to hear this tale of a bit of american history.