The wings might need 'clipping'.

I am a massive fan of Ken Follett's work and this is undoubtedly a story worth retelling. However for once I found some of the content laborious and am reminded of that feeling, when watching a two hour drama on tv, that all of this could have so easily been dealt with in just one hour. Nevertheless an important story with a satisfying ending and I am glad I saw it through!

This book is personal for me since I worked for Ross Perot's firm, EDS, in San Francisco during that time. I remember seeing the letters from co-workers in Iran posted on the computer room's bulletin board. I watched on TV the news about the escape of EDS people from Iran. How many bosses would help get employees out of danger like he did? This fantastic book will explain why Ross Perot became a hero to me.

I bought this book for only $2.99 on BookBub thinking it was another thrilling Ken Follett WWII novel. I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was the amazing true story of Ross Perot's efforts to release two EDS employees from an Iranian prison where they were unjustly incarcerated in the midst of the 1979 revolution. As usual, Follett's writing style is clear & concise. It's all about the story and the characters.

Just saw a friend's review and remembered that I read this over thirty years ago. I don't remember much about it, but I remember liking it.

First of all, I want to say that 5 stars is a rarity from me, but this book deserves every shiny one of them.
…
Ken Follett did an excellent job putting this story on the pages… AND WHAT STORY!!! A TRUE story!!! It was a better page turner than most fiction. I recommend it!!!

Great book

I have enjoyed all Ken Follett books for hat on have read and I’ve read quite a few. Looking forward to the next one.

On the Wings of Eagles is a true story about how Ross Perot created a Rainbow 5 type rescue team and recovered his stranded and incarcerated executives. Electronic Data Systems, a company built by the multi-billionaire Ross Perot was working in Iran during their 1979 revolution which saw the removal of the Shah. A team of EDS executives volunteered to go into Iran and rescue colleagues that were being held captive. This team was led by Colonel Arthur D. (Bull) Simons. The story shows, once again, that the truth can be stranger than fiction. The book isn’t like other Ken Follett works and shows that he is the master of fact as well as fiction. I recommend this book to both fiction and fact lovers.

3.5⭐

O livro é bom mas achei-o extremamente confuso, perdi-me no meio de tantas personagens e factos históricos. Para mim funcionaria melhor em filme.

Ken Follett is one of my favorite authors. I was really mesmerized by the Kingsbridge saga and the Century trilogy that he has authored, not to mention his iconic debut novel The Eye of the Needle. So, I did have a lot of expectations about this work. On Wings of Eagles is a fictionalized account of real-life events that occurred in Teheran at the height of the Islamic revolution that unfolded in that country in 1979. It is not very easy to pull off a full-length novel on real life events. Follett, rather wryly admits in the foreword to this work that he did face a problem as to how to make the narrative as fast paced as he would have liked, because, in real life things do not move that fast. But he does make a concerted effort all the same and is fairly successful at that.

tElectronic Data Systems (EDS) is a company that was founded by Ross Perot, who later was a US Presidential hopeful as an independent candidate in 1992 and a Reform Party candidate in 1996. He had a strong showing in both the elections as a third-party candidate, other than Republican/ Democrat, but was unsuccessful at the hustings.

tIn late 70s EDS started operations in Iran, where they were involved in the establishment of a Social Security system for the country. The company had moved into Iran when the country was under the control of the Shah, who was running an autocratic and brutal regime. However, things began to go bad for the company, when there was an uprising against the Shah, which was spearheaded by the cleric, Ayatollah Khomeini. Shah, in a bid to show his credentials as a paragon of virtue, and to negate his losing grip on his country, tried to go after the foreign companies in a bid to crack down on alleged corruption that they were indulging in. There is controversy as to whether EDS was involved in corrupt practices or not in Iran. Ken Follet, in his work tries to portray, EDS and Perot as totally upright and above board in their dealings with the bureaucracy in Iran. However, there are conflicting reports on this aspect, and I happened to read an account suggesting the contrary in a web edition of The Chicago Tribune. However, that’s not the point of contention in this book. What Follett wants to portray is the kind of commitment that Perot as an employer had towards his employees when they were caught in a situation of grave danger in a foreign country that was fast spiraling out of control. Of course, there is a likelihood that the account could be highly exaggerated to show Perot in good light, but the basic fact remains that he was committed to taking care of his employees in their time of need.

tIn early 1979, two employees of EDS, stationed in Teheran, Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord were arrested by the Iranian authorities. The claim is that there were no charges made against the US employees and that they were arbitrarily kept in prison. A steep bail of about 13 million US dollars was placed for their release, which according to some other accounts was the amount that Iran had paid to EDS for allegedly unsatisfactory services provided by the company. Again, Follett papers over that particular allegation. Perot tried to pull strings through the high and mighty in the US administration to get his employees released. All his efforts came to nought, probably because of the confusion and chaos that prevailed in the country with the Shah’s days on the throne being numbered. It was at this juncture that the Texan came up with a daring plan to rescue his employees from Iran.

tPerot sought the help of a retired marine Colonel by the name of Arthur “Bull” Simons. He thereafter, under the leadership of Simons, created a team of volunteer EDS employees (all of them ex-soldiers) to go into troubled Iran and extract the two jailed employees. It was this act of daring and commitment of Perot that Follett has made the central theme of this book.

tUnder the leadership of Simons, the team had carried out lot of practice for the prison break while they were still in Dallas. All this was done based on the information regarding the layout of the prison and the situation in Iran that they had received from their contacts in Iran. But, once they landed in Teheran, they were confronted by the fact that the actual layout of the prison was totally different as compared to what they were made to believe while they were in the States. Moreover, within a few days of the team landing in Iran, Paul and Bill were transferred to the more secure Gasr prison, where close to 10,000 prisoners were incarcerated. Follett describes in detail the disappointments faced by the team on this account, as well as the lengthy deliberations that were happening on the sidelines with the Iranian judicial authorities, to possibly enable the release of the prisoners.

tFinally, in February 1979, there was an uprising in the Gasr prison aided by the revolutionaries, which led to a prison break and both Bill and Paul getting out of the prison in the melee that followed. According to Follett’s account, an Iranian employee of EDS, Rashid, was actively involved in engineering the prison break, but this fact is strongly contested in certain other accounts of the event that I had gone through. Follett, thereafter describes in detail the harrowing overland escape of the rescue team and the freed prisoners from Iran into Turkey. The account of the overland escape predictably reads like the script of an escape movie, with thugs, unreasonable regional rebel leaders and hard physical conditions all thrown in for good measure. A statement attributed to Col Simons, as per another account, however, says that the escape was like a picnic down the road. Maybe that was the perception of a battle-hardened marine coming across!!!

tAnyway, it is not for the reader to doubt the truth of the details in the narration. The fact that I appreciated was that Ross Perot, had the gumption to plan such an audacious escape in spite of all the odds faced by the company in a totally destabilized country that Iran was at that point in time. Various accounts state that the book was doctored by EDS and required the nod of Perot before publication. I wouldn’t grudge Perot for that, because I think he earned that right on account of the bold stand that he took in coming to the aid of his employees in their time of need. I gather that a shrewd businessman’s brain was at work here, because the book became a best seller. Moreover, the television rights of the book were also sold and a five-part series was made, which too became a much-watched series on TV.

tHowever, even though the book is extremely enjoyable, I would say that Ken Follett is not at his best here. He does make a sincere effort to build up the narration, what with all the efforts to etch out each and every character with a soul of their own. I guess, being a real-life event, the author did have certain limitations on the degree of freedom that he could afford to take with the portrayal of the protagonists. It is however, a very well researched book, and will definitely be considered as one of the main sources of information about those tumultuous days in the history of Iran, when the country was in the throes of a violent revolution.

It was fine but I thought it would be better.

Ross Perot founded EDS (Electronic Data Systems) in 1962. The Shah of Iran entered into a contract with EDS to install computer systems and modernize healthcare in Iran. Unfortunately, infrastructure in Iran was poor and slow to improve, which caused people to get annoyed. EDS employees were arrested on suspicion of bribery and thrown into prison. Ross Perot demanded that funds be allocated to pay their bail and got up a team to break them out of prison if necessary. He was determined not to leave them there. This was a really dramatic account of what the EDS employees and those who went to find them went through during this period of unrest. (Iranian Revolution)

I really enjoy Ken Follett's World War II fiction books. I found them on sale and got them all. I was really excited to find out that he had a nonfiction book out, because that is usually what I read. I love his writing style and he always does a lot of research so that he can accurately portray something. I thought this book was great, and I learned a ton of information. I knew absolutely nothing about this event before I read this book.

Nu poți da suficient unei cărți care descrie fapte reale. În 1979,Iranul își forțează Șahul să abdice, iar țara devine un haos. În mijlocul acelui haos un procuror iranian "condamnă" la închisoare, fără nicio justificare, doi directori ai corporației EDS. Indignat de comportamentul iranienilor și de neputința guvernului SUA, Ross Perot, președintele EDS, pune la cale răpirea din închisoare a celor doi și trecerea ilegală a acestora în Turcia cu ajutorul directorilor companiei și a unui fost colonel din armata SUA. Când te gândești că totul s-a întâmplat în realitate nu poți să nu te gândești că uneori curajul chiar e vecin cu nebunia.