90 Minutes at Entebbe

The incredible story of an Israeli mission that rescued 103 hostages from a hijacked jetliner.

On June 27, 1976, Air France Flight 139 was hijacked by terrorists and flown to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. In the following agonizing days, Israeli passengers were singled out and held hostage. A week later on July 4, one hundred Israeli commandos raced 2,500 miles from Israel to Entebbe, landed in the middle of the night, and in a heart-stopping mission that lasted ninety minutes, killed all guerillas and freed 103 hostages.

In captivating detail, Stevenson provides a fast-paced hour-by-hour narration from the hijacking to the final ninety-minute mission. In addition to discussing the incredible rescue itself, Stevenson also covers the political backdrop behind the hijacking, especially Ugandan President Idi Amin’s support for the hijackers, which marked one of the first times a leader of a nation had backed terrorist activities. An illustration of one nation’s undying spirit, heroism, and commitment to its people in the face of threat, Operation Thunderbolt has become a legendary antiterrorist tale.

Although first written in 1976 (and published within weeks of the event), Stevenson’s account presents this act of terrorism in a way that is still relevant in our modern-day political climate. A factual account of what could easily be read as sensational fiction, 90 Minutes at Entebbe will inspire, encourage, and instill hope in all readers.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

William Stevenson was born in Britain in 1925. He served as an aircraft pilot in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy during World War II and later moved to Canada where he worked for the Toronto Star. Stevenson traveled the globe, operating as the Star’s one-man foreign service and covering conflicts in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Stevenson is the author of nine books, including international bestseller A Man Called Intrepid. He died in 2013 in Toronto, Canada.

Uri Dan was born in 1935. A veteran Israeli journalist, he served as the chief correspondent of Maariv, an Israeli newspaper, and as the Israel correspondent for the New York Post. Dan gained fame as the spokesman and confidante of Israel’s former prime minister Ariel Sharon. He died in 2006.