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T R U S T M E I S H O U L D K N O W FEB 7 2020

By Leon Neyfakh

The Best Books on The Iran-Contra AffairAccording to Leon Neyfakh

8 items in this article

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If you couldnrsquot get enough of the podcast Slowburnrsquos deep dives into Watergate and theClinton impeachment or of Fiascorsquos close look at the Bush versus Gore legal battle we havegood news This week host Leon Neyfakh returns with the second season of Fiasco this timehoning in on the Iran-Contra aair For those who would like some background informationbefore diving into the new season or who would simply like to learn more about the politicalscandal on their own we asked Neyfakh to put together a comprehensive list of books on thesubject

A Very Thin Line The Iran-Contra Affairs by Theodore DraperWhatrsquos maddening about Iran-Contra is that there are multiple conicting accounts of pretty much every key eventconversation and meeting After hitting my head against a wall trying to square one personrsquos testimony with theremembrances of another I found comfort in Draperrsquos book which treats inconsistencies in the source material as amusingmysteries rather than annoying problems

Landslide The Unmaking of the President 1984-1988 by Jane Mayer andDoyle McManusA marvel of co-authorship by Jane Mayer who covered Reagan for the Wall Street Journal and Doyle McManus whocovered Central America for the LA Times The best most fun book to start with if you want to mainline Iran-Contra inthe form of a political thriller it opens with a scoop from Mayer about how close Reagan came to being removed from oceby way of the 25th Amendment

The Nightingales Song by Robert Timberg$18 | (was $20 now 10 o)This book of intertwined character studies provides ne-grained portraits of Reagan advisers Bud McFarlane who rstbrought the idea of the Iran weapons deal to the president and John Poindexter who approved the use of prots from theIran deal to fund the contras in Nicaragua Makes the case that Iran-Contra is secretly a story about the Vietnam War

Iran-Contra Reagans Scandal and the Unchecked Abuse of PresidentialPower by Malcolm ByrneThis book written by the unocial dean of Iran-Contra studies splits the dierence between academic meticulousness andjournalistic are When wersquore fact-checking season two of Fiasco the phrase most commonly uttered in our oce tends tobe ldquoCheck Byrnerdquo

Lives Lies and the Iran-Contra Affair by Ann Wroe

Wroe the obituaries editor of the Economist treats Iran-Contra as an opera or a novel to be analyzed and prodded Readingthis swirling book-length essay you can tell Wroe is moved by Iran-Contra and itrsquos a pleasure to be inside her mind as sheworks through it and lets it inspire her

Opening Arguments A Young Lawyers First Case United States VsOliver L North by Jeffrey ToobinBefore Je Toobin was a famous journalist he was a pipsqueak of a lawyer working in the oce of the Iran-Contraindependent counsel After Toobin quit and wrote this book his former boss tried to stop it from coming out and Toobinrsquospublisher sued him ldquoOpening Argumentsrdquo wonrsquot tell you a ton about Iran-Contra but as a memoir of working inside atornado it moves

On Bended Knee The Press and the Reagan Presidency by MarkHertsgaardAfter reading a bunch of big omnibus books on a topic therersquos nothing I love more than nding a super-narrow one thatzooms in on a single aspect of it On Bended Knee published in the fall of 1988 is about the Reagan administrationrsquoshandling (and manhandling) of the press corps

Hostage Bound Hostage Free by Ben and Carol Weir with DennisBensonA window into the hostage crisis at the center of the Iran-Contra scandal this is the memoir of a man taken prisoner inLebanon in 1984 and the wife who tried to bring him home Weir was freed in exchange for some 500 American-made anti-tank missiles To make matters more interesting both Weir and his wife were harsh critics of US policy in the Middle Eastand thought the kidnappers made some good points in their criticisms of America (Some in the Reagan administrationcalled him Benjamin ldquoWeirdrdquo)

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