One of Indigo's Top 10 History Books of 2024


Praise for The Siege:

“For six days, it was the Iranian Embassy on Princes Gate in London that riveted the world . . . Macintyre’s new book is a gripping retelling of what happened. [His] superb reconstruction restores it to vivid, complex life . . . A cracking procedural. It’s another hit.”—The Washington Post

“Macintyre . . . is a master storyteller. . . . He is expert at gathering and collating, then shaping and deploying, vast quantities of information, whether from government records, private archives or interviews he conducts himself. . . . There are numerous accounts already published of this six-day siege[,] and yet, for all the wealth of information already out there, Mr. Macintyre adds real value to our understanding of what occurred in those six days with his deeply humane and encyclopedic book.”—Wall Street Journal

“Nerve-wracking menace, unlikely sympathies, and a daring rescue mark this rousing saga of a notorious terrorist incident . . . Macintyre’s narrative is cinematic in its bloody climax . . . and even more so in its tense buildup. He paints the embassy occupation as a psychological pressure cooke. . . . Without demonizing those involved, Macintyre provides a nuanced, perceptive analysis of the intense emotions roiling a high-stakes standoff.”—Publishers Weekly

“Ben Macintyre has established himself as the preeminent historian of the secret world, his work opening doors most of us didn’t know were there. His books have set the gold standard for accurate historical reporting, but read like heart-pounding thrillers.”—Mick Herron, bestselling author of Slow Horses

"Macintyre writes with the diligence and insight of a journalist, and the panache of a born storyteller." —The Guardian

"The definitive account of what happened . . . so gripping that I literally could not put the book down." —Jack Straw, Independent

"Unforgettable" —Robert McCrum, Independent

"A fresh and gripping read . . . A masterful big-picture narrative, drawing on interviews, news archives and unpublished personal memoirs by those who survived. Macintyre preserves the hostages’ story in magnificent, humane style – and offers another swashbuckling tribute to their rescuers" —Telegraph

"There have been plenty of books written in the aftermath and intervening years, most claiming to be the "true story", but none as exhaustive or gripping as Ben Macintyre's The Siege" —Observer

"In The Siege Macintyre has access to SAS sources including, in one of his customary coups, Major Hector Gullan, who planned the raid. Yet he gives greater room to the feelings of the hostages, the shifting emotions of their captors and the interplay between the two groups. Macintyre’s achievement is that his account is the more gripping for it." —Sunday Times

Praise for Ben Macintyre:

“John le Carré’s nonfiction counterpart.”—The New York Times

“Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann

“One of the most gifted espionage writers around.”—Annie Jacobsen

“Macintyre is a supremely gifted storyteller. . . . His books are absurdly entertaining.”—The Boston Globe

“[Ben] Macintyre at once exalts and subverts the myths of spy craft.”—The New Yorker

“Macintyre is fastidious about tradecraft details. . . . [He] has become the preeminent popular chronicler of British intelligence history because he understands the essence of the business.”—David Ignatius, The Washington Post

“Macintyre writes with novelistic flair.”—Entertainment Weekly