Yellow Ribbon (H)

On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian revolutionaries took over the U.S. embassy in Tehran, and the 444-day ordeal of 52 American hostages began. Laingen, the embassy's charge d'affaires, was held separately with two staffers until three weeks before the general release. Based on his journal and letters to his family, this book offers a somewhat generalized account of his struggle against anger, frustration and boredom. His captivity was relatively uneventful, and much of the material here concerns his reaction to news, such as the failure of the Desert One rescue mission and Ramsey Clark's visit to Tehran for the ``Crimes of America'' conference. Laingen provides a stirring account of the hours leading up to the release of the hostages, their flight to freedom, their meetings with outgoing President Carter and later with newly inaugurated President Reagan. The predictability of the author's views and the absence of other characters in the journal make it of limited appeal for the general reader. Photos. (Aug.)