07/18/2016
Gripping....Von Tunzelmann, an Oxford educated historian with an eye for human detail as well as a sure-handed grasp of the larger picture, does a marvelous job of recreating the tension and bungling that swept up up Cairo, London, Moscow, Budapest, Paris and Washington during the harrowing two weeks of Oct. 22 to Nov. 26, 1956.... Not only exciting and satisfying but also timely.” — Evan Thomas, New York Times Book Review
“Anchored with fresh documentary evidence, Blood and Sand is a riveting re-evaluation of the Cold War crises of 1956: Suez and Hungary. Alex von Tunzelmann has written a definitive history of these crucial events — a real page-turner and monument to first-rate scholarship.” — Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America
“This thrilling ticktock brings the emotional core of geopolitical maneuvering into dramatic focus, with portraits of leaders variously honorable, pigheaded, irresolute, pusillanimous, and susceptible to mood swings.” — The New Yorker
“This book offers a shrewd, exciting history of the Suez crisis of 1956, and makes a clear case for its relevance today.” — New York Times
“The effect is a cinematic, you-are-there style of history-writing, which plunges the reader into the chaos of events.” — Adam Kirsch, Tablet
“A thoroughly well-researched, action-packed, and highly readable account of the two major international crises that shook the world in 1956, Blood and Sand is a fascinating tale of plots and conspiracies, of deception and double-dealing, of bullying and blundering.” — Avi Shlaim, author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World
“Von Tunzelmann deftly describes and links these twin struggles and offers excellent profiles of the key players, including Nasser and Eisenhower, shown here as the true ‘hero’ for his wisdom and restraint. This is an outstanding reexamination of these sad, history-altering events.” — Booklist , starred review
“Gripping.... A timely and insightful must-read for anyone who cares about Middle Eastern history or 20th-century diplomacy.” — Library Journal
“Skillfully and artfully integrates the complex, simultaneous Suez and Hungarian crises of 1956 into a single story of Cold War conflict as no one has before.” — Publishers Weekly
“Von Tunzelmann’s narrative cracks along like an international political thriller as she tracks the action day by day, sometimes hour by hour. A fine new account of an unnecessary crisis.” — Kirkus
A thoroughly well-researched, action-packed, and highly readable account of the two major international crises that shook the world in 1956, Blood and Sand is a fascinating tale of plots and conspiracies, of deception and double-dealing, of bullying and blundering.
This book offers a shrewd, exciting history of the Suez crisis of 1956, and makes a clear case for its relevance today.
Gripping....Von Tunzelmann, an Oxford educated historian with an eye for human detail as well as a sure-handed grasp of the larger picture, does a marvelous job of recreating the tension and bungling that swept up up Cairo, London, Moscow, Budapest, Paris and Washington during the harrowing two weeks of Oct. 22 to Nov. 26, 1956.... Not only exciting and satisfying but also timely.
The effect is a cinematic, you-are-there style of history-writing, which plunges the reader into the chaos of events.
Anchored with fresh documentary evidence, Blood and Sand is a riveting re-evaluation of the Cold War crises of 1956: Suez and Hungary. Alex von Tunzelmann has written a definitive history of these crucial events — a real page-turner and monument to first-rate scholarship.
This thrilling ticktock brings the emotional core of geopolitical maneuvering into dramatic focus, with portraits of leaders variously honorable, pigheaded, irresolute, pusillanimous, and susceptible to mood swings.
Von Tunzelmann deftly describes and links these twin struggles and offers excellent profiles of the key players, including Nasser and Eisenhower, shown here as the true ‘hero’ for his wisdom and restraint. This is an outstanding reexamination of these sad, history-altering events.
This thrilling ticktock brings the emotional core of geopolitical maneuvering into dramatic focus, with portraits of leaders variously honorable, pigheaded, irresolute, pusillanimous, and susceptible to mood swings.
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.
This is history as multiple, interconnected biography . . . placing the behavior and feelings of a few key players at the center of a tumultuous moment in history.”-
New York Times Book Review on 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 on Indian Summer
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.
Washington Post on Red Heat
09/01/2016
2016-07-19
