About the Author

Alex von Tunzelmann lives in London. She read history at University College, Oxford, and afterwards worked as a researcher on books for authors including Jeremy Paxman, Felicity Lawrence, John Kay and Alison Wolf. Her first book, Indian Summer, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2007. 

Reviews

"Depicts the swaggering, corrupt, erratic, and often violent years of rule by Fidel Castro of Cuba, Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, and Francois Duvalier of Haiti. Suitcases full of cash, torture chambers, gunboats, coups, dictatorship, and revolutionary fervor spill out of these pages....Captures the missile crisis as a frightening and real dance of knives in a dusty Caribbean cockfighting square." --David E. Hoffman, "The Washington Post
""Deftly juggles the stories of three countries---Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic---and their relationships with the superpowers, where things were not as they seemed...Von Tunzelmann tells stories so bizarre as to be beyond any but the most grotesque horror films....It is good to see this tale, so often seen in world terms, as part of a contiguous regional story." --"The Guardian" (London) "A sweeping history...Von Tunzelmann writes with the same verve and range of material she deployed in "Indian Summer," a praised treatment of the end of the [Indian] British Empire." --"Financial Times" (London)
"A mesmerizing, Conradian tale where the truth is almost too dark to bear. A remarkably gripping popular history." --"Kirkus Reviews
""Von Tunzelmann's diligent work will widen the eyes of cold war buffs." --"Booklist
"Praise for "Indian Summer""Irresistible . . . A fascinating book that may well change how we look on the benighted world in which we live today." --"Los Angeles Times
""Stirring . . . Von Tunzelmann's brisk narrative is propelled forward by the personalities of five memorable individuals who all wanted and worked for independence. . . . Absorbingly readable." --"Fortune
""["Red""Heat"] removes the veil from the colorful personalities and events behind India's independence and partition with Pakistan. . . . Von Tunzelmann writes with authority and confidence." --"The Washington Post
""[A] captivating group portrait, pulling forth the most telling de

"Depicts the swaggering, corrupt, erratic, and often violent years of rule by Fidel Castro of Cuba, Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, and Francois Duvalier of Haiti. Suitcases full of cash, torture chambers, gunboats, coups, dictatorship, and revolutionary fervor spill out of these pages....Captures the missile crisis as a frightening and real dance of knives in a dusty Caribbean cockfighting square." --David E. Hoffman, "The Washington Post
""Deftly juggles the stories of three countries---Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic---and their relationships with the superpowers, where things were not as they seemed...Von Tunzelmann tells stories so bizarre as to be beyond any but the most grotesque horror films....It is good to see this tale, so often seen in world terms, as part of a contiguous regional story." --"The Guardian" (London)

"A sweeping history...Von Tunzelmann writes with the same verve and range of material she deployed in "Indian Summer," a praised treatment of the end of the [Indian] British Empire." --"Financial Times" (London)
"A mesmerizing, Conradian tale where the truth is almost too dark to bear. A remarkably gripping popular history." --"Kirkus Reviews
""Von Tunzelmann's diligent work will widen the eyes of cold war buffs." --"Booklist
"Praise for "Indian Summer""Irresistible . . . A fascinating book that may well change how we look on the benighted world in which we live today." --"Los Angeles Times
""Stirring . . . Von Tunzelmann's brisk narrative is propelled forward by the personalities of five memorable individuals who all wanted and worked for independence. . . . Absorbingly readable." --"Fortune
""["Red""Heat"] removes the veil from the colorful personalities and events behind India's independence and partition with Pakistan. . . . Von Tunzelmann writes with authority and confidence." --"The Washington Post
""[A] captivating group portrait, pulling forth the most telling de