Craig Unger is the New York Times bestselling author of five books on the Republican Party’s assault on democracy. The former editor in chief of Boston Magazine, he was also a contributing editor for Vanity Fair where he covered national security and foreign affairs. His work has appeared in many other publications including New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Esquire, The Guardian, The New York Times, Washington Post, and The New Republic. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. ... Read more Read less
Argo meets Spotlight, as New York Times bestselling author Craig Unger reveals his thirty-
year investigation into the secret collusion between Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential
campaign and Iran, raising urgent questions about what happens when foreign meddling in
our elections goes unpunished and what gets remembered when the political price for treason
is victory.
In April 1991, the New York Times ran an op-ed alleging that Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential
campaign had conspired with the Iranian government to delay the release of 52 American hostages
until after the 1980 election. The Iranian hostage crisis was President Jimmy Carter’s largest political
vulnerability, and his lack of success freeing them ultimately sealed his fate at the ballot box. In return
for keeping Americans in captivity until Reagan assumed the oath of office, the Republicans had
secretly funneled arms to Iran. Treasonous and illegal, the operation—planned and executed by
Reagan’s campaign manager Bill Casey—amounted to a shadow foreign policy run by private citizens
that ensured Reagan’s victory.
Investigative journalist Craig Unger was one of the first reporters covering the October Surprise—
initially for Esquire and then Newsweek—and while attempting to unravel the mystery, he was fired,
sued, and ostracized by the Washington press corps, as a counter narrative took hold: The October
Surprise was a hoax. Now Unger finally reveals the definitive story and sharing startling truths about
what really happened in 1980. The result is a real-life political thriller filled with double agents, CIA
operatives, slippery politicians, KGB documents, wealthy Republicans, and dogged journalists. Timely
and provocative, with powerful echoes of Trump-era political scandals, Den of Spies demonstrates
the stakes of allowing the politics of the moment to obscure the writing of our history.
... Read more Read less
