You can almost tell that Wroe was trained as a medievalist and works as book review editor of The Economist. Her book contains not a single interview but instead relies on a scholar's close reading of documents. Also, it has an the trademark Economist style: lively, quirky, and ready to take on the profound issues. The result is the best account of the Iran/contra affair-far superior to Theodore Draper's ponderous account in A Very Thin Line (Hill and Wang, 1991).
Wroe dispatches the outline of the scandal in just over two pages of the introduction; the study itself is thematic. And what themes! The first chapter dwells on the two illusions underpinning the whole fiasco-that moderates could be found in Khomeini's government and that the contras would save the West from Communism. Other chapters deal with money, with lies, the following of orders, lawyers, and the cinematic quality of the whole affair. Wroe brings a mischievous intelligence to all these subjects. Her quotes are knockouts (it's hard to pick a favorite, but here's Robert McFarlane distancing himself from the famous cake his delegation took to Tehran: "Simply put, there was a cake on the mission. I didn't buy it, bake it, cook it, eat it, present it, or otherwise get involved with it"). Far more than a conventional account, Lives, Lies both explains and conjures up the spirit behind one of the most bizarre episodes in American history.
