On the morning the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was stormed by Iranian students, its top diplomat was visiting the Iranian Foreign Ministry, discussing security and diplomatic immunity over a cup of tea when word reached him that his embassy was under siege. L. Bruce Laingen went on to reach State Department officials by telephone from the Foreign Ministry office in downtown Tehran, ordering them to destroy confidential documents before it was too late. His staff was soon overrun, bound and blindfolded. He would spend most of the next 444 days in captivity at the Foreign Ministry, isolated from the dozens...