Red Heat
Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean
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Narrated by:
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Sarah Coomes
About this listen
The Caribbean crises of the Cold War are revealed as never before in this riveting story of clashing ideologies, the rise of the politics of fear, the machinations of superpowers, and the brazen daring of the mavericks who took them on.
During the presidencies of Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, the Caribbean was in crisis. The men responsible included, from Cuba, the charismatic Fidel Castro and his mysterious brother Ral; from Argentina, the ideologue Che Guevara; from the Dominican Republic, the capricious psychopath Rafael Trujillo; and from Haiti, Franois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, a buttoned-down doctor with interests in Vodou, embezzlement, and torture.
Alex von Tunzelmann's brilliant narrative follows these five rivals and accomplices from the beginning of the Cold War to its end, each with a separate vision for his tropical paradise, and each in search of power and adventure as the United States and the USSR acted out the world's tensions in their island nations. The superpowers thought they could use Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic as puppets, but what neither bargained on was that their puppets would come to life. Red Heat is an intimate account of the strong-willed men who, armed with little but words and ruthlessness, took on the most powerful nations on earth.
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Editorial reviews
Alex von Tunzelmann's Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder and the Cold War in the Caribbean is a comprehensive look at the tumultuous politics of the region focusing on Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. It starts with the roots of the slave trade and the Monroe Doctrine to chronicle this past century of turmoil and political upheaval on these volatile islands. There's a lot of ground to cover here, especially considering the long and complicated relationship with these countries and their big brother to the North, the United States. Tunzelmann does a thorough job of laying out the events, providing lots of context, and portraying an accurate sense of time and place.
Sarah Coomes imparts a fine energy to the narration. The storylines here are far from the usual dry litany of historic facts and dates. There's a lot of juicy stuff here: CIA plots, brutal murders, Latin playboys, and a cast of bigger-than-life characters that you'd be hard-pressed to match in even the best fictional political thrillers. Coomes seems to always find the right tone whether laying out cold murderous plots, or relaying the horror of a brutal massacre or military action. Her occasional asides on the rumors and tabloid headlines of the time are particularly enjoyable. And Coomes’ British accent becomes material, seeming to give her a bit of third-party impartiality. There's also a fine irony in having a woman narrate this story that is so wrought with testosterone and machismo.
Tunzelmann bookends the work with a look at contemporary times, reminding us that history often repeats itself if we don't learn our lessons. The parallels here to current Middle East politics are uncanny. You see once again the U.S. history of supporting unsavory characters in the name of stability, and our sometimes myopic focus on one overriding issue above all else. In the Caribbean it was the fear of communism that overrode every other consideration, and in the end became a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's hard not to react to Red Heat on a very visceral level. But it is definitely worth revisiting this era and area now and taking a good hard look at these events, especially in how U.S. policy shaped the area, and how it shaped our future. —Cleo Creech
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Story
A groundbreaking account of how Britain became the base of operations for the exiled leaders of Europe in their desperate struggle to reclaim their continent from Hitler, from the New York Times best-selling author of Citizens of London and Those Angry Days.
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Not What I Expected--More What I Needed to Know
- By DanD on 06-25-17
By: Lynne Olson
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Midnight's Furies
- The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition
- By: Nisid Hajari
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Nobody expected the liberation of India and birth of Pakistan to be so bloody - it was supposed to be an answer to the dreams of Muslims and Hindus who had been ruled by the British for centuries. Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi's protégé and the political leader of India, believed that Indians were an inherently nonviolent, peaceful people. Pakistan's founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was a secular lawyer, not a firebrand.
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Amazingly detailed account of this tragedy i gigan
- By BG on 10-09-15
By: Nisid Hajari
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Prevail
- The Inspiring Story of Ethiopia's Victory over Mussolini's Invasion, 1935-1941
- By: Jeff Pearce, Richard Pankhurst - foreword
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 24 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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It was the war that changed everything, and yet it's been mostly forgotten: in 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia. It dominated newspaper headlines and newsreels. It inspired mass marches in Harlem, a play on Broadway, and independence movements in Africa. As the British Navy sailed into the Mediterranean for a white-knuckle showdown with Italian ships, riots broke out in major cities all over the United States.
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This is not a history, it's a package of anecdotes
- By M2 on 02-03-15
By: Jeff Pearce, and others
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Charlie Wilson's War
- The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History
- By: George Crile
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Charlie Wilson's War is the untold story behind the last battle of the Cold War and how it fueled the rise of militant Islam. George Crile tells how Charlie Wilson, a maverick congressman from east Texas, conspired with a rogue CIA operative to launch the biggest, meanest, and most successful covert operation in the agency's history.
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The REAL Story of the Middle East and the CIA
- By Dale on 08-24-04
By: George Crile
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Prague Winter
- A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948
- By: Madeleine Albright
- Narrated by: Madeleine Albright
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Before Madeleine Albright turned twelve, her life was shaken by the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia—the country where she was born—the Battle of Britain, the near total destruction of European Jewry, the Allied victory in World War II, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War. Albright's experiences, and those of her family, provide a lens through which to view the most tumultuous dozen years in modern history.
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History from a Personal Perspective
- By Jeanette Finan on 02-22-13
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Berlin 1961
- Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth
- By: Frederick Kempe
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 20 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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A former Wall Street Journal editor and the current president and CEO of the Atlantic Council, Frederick Kempe draws on recently released documents and personal interviews to re-create the powder keg that was 1961 Berlin. In Cold War Berlin, the United States and the Soviet Union stand nose to nose, with the possibility of nuclear war just one misstep away.
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I am scared in retrospect
- By theenglishmajor on 06-26-11
By: Frederick Kempe
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Rise and Kill First
- The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations
- By: Ronen Bergman
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 25 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The Talmud says: “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.” This instinct to take every measure, even the most aggressive, to defend the Jewish people is hardwired into Israel’s DNA. From the very beginning of its statehood in 1948, protecting the nation from harm has been the responsibility of its intelligence community and armed services, and there is one weapon in their vast arsenal that they have relied upon to thwart the most serious threats: Targeted assassinations have been used countless times, on enemies large and small....
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Eye Opening
- By Ari Safari on 02-09-18
By: Ronen Bergman
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Black Flags
- The Rise of ISIS
- By: Joby Warrick
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In a thrilling dramatic narrative, awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents.
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So much learned
- By mike flavin on 02-11-16
By: Joby Warrick
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Lioness
- Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel
- By: Francine Klagsbrun
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 32 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Golda Meir was a world figure unlike any other. Born in tsarist Russia in 1898, she immigrated to America in 1906 and grew up in Milwaukee, where from her earliest years she displayed the political consciousness and organizational skills that would eventually catapult her into the inner circles of Israel's founding generation. Moving to mandatory Palestine in 1921 with her husband, the passionate socialist joined a kibbutz but soon left and was hired at a public works office by the man who would become the great love of her life.
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The persistent mispronunciations of Hebrew and Yiddish words ruined this performance
- By YH-O on 12-30-18
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Supreme Commander
- MacArthur's Triumph in Japan
- By: Seymour Morris
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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He is the most-decorated general in American history - and the only five-star general to receive the Medal of Honor. Yet Douglas MacArthur’s greatest victory was not in war but in peace. As the uniquely titled Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, he was charged with transforming a defeated, militarist empire into a beacon of peace and democracy - "the greatest gamble ever attempted", he called it.
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Compelling book in an pleasant voice
- By Pierke Bosschieter on 04-24-14
By: Seymour Morris
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Adolf Hitler
- By: John Toland
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 44 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Based on previously unpublished documents, diaries, notes, photographs, and dramatic interviews with Hitler's colleagues and associates, this is the definitive biography of one of the most despised yet fascinating figures of the 20th century. Painstakingly documented, it is a work that will not soon be forgotten.
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Strange Person
- By Mark on 11-25-14
By: John Toland
What listeners say about Red Heat
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Manish S. Vaidya
- 05-29-15
Epic, sweeping & meticulously researched saga
Epic, sweeping & meticulously researched saga of the tumultuous 20th century history of the Caribbean islands. Alex puts in lot of hard work in writing the history for her readers. And it shows. Also I love the fact that she is able to bring out the human nature of the historical figures, instead of just making them dry caricatures. We are all human and sometimes it best to understand history within the context of the frailties and pitfalls of human nature. The sequence describing the tantrum thrown by Papa Doc when his daughter went off with her disgraced husband is an excellent example of this type of historical narrative.
My only grudge is that this is really 3 books combined in one - History of Cuba, that of Haiti & of the Dominican Republic. Although intertwined, each would have made a compelling narrative on its own. I felt towards the end not enough justice was done to telling the story of Castro & to some extent Che. At one point I got on Netflix and watched a documentary on Castro which gave me lot more information.
That doesn't take away at all from the compelling nature of this book. It should be required reading for any student of Caribbean history. And a pleasurable, informative and fascinating read for any history buff.
The audible narrative is also pleasant and the reader captures the spirit of the book well, along with her emphasis on French pronunciations which makes it even more interesting.
Thanks Alex for another wonderful historical read (following Indian summer)
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- History
- 10-24-11
Interesting, not extraordinary.
If the author would lose the anti American rant in the preface, I would have liked it more. I don't like being bludgeoned with a political position when I read history ... I would prefer the material enable me to draw the conclusions myself. Be that as it may, after you get past the introduction, the book is actually a pretty good history of American and European incursions and injustices in the Caribbean. Invading virtually defenseless island nations for a wide variety of reasons is apparently something of a tradition and has been for a long time.
This was an area of history with which I was only tangentially familiar. It enabled me, for the first time, to put our Cuban and other Caribbean adventures into a broader context.
The book is pretty good and the narrator is okay. I personally didn't like this narrator for this material. Her voice was too high for my comfort and I found her extremely clipped accent difficult to listen to for any long period. The pace was too brisk for my taste and I think, for the subject matter.
It's a reasonably well written book ... but as history it felt out of balance: too much opinion in proportion to the information. If you are interested in this region and its history and perhaps have always wondered what beef we have with Cuba and vice versa, this will probably give you the background information you want.
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11 people found this helpful
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- bruce kittrick
- 10-11-24
Takes me back to my childhood
Food for thought. McCarthy could have gotten a bit more ink. Ike was old and sick and did not like empires as he lead this country into the role of the anti communist empire.
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- Dr Rick
- 03-11-16
Well-Done But Hard to Take
It took me a while to get through this book. It is a sorry story of American involvement in the Caribbean. Yet, it is well done, and it appears to be accurate. I wish our current politicians understood this.
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- M. Camblor
- 07-16-24
Many Names Were Hurt
A very good historical overview that taught me quite a few things about the country where I grew up (the Dominican Republic) and the one my parents were exiled from (Cuba). Unfortunately, the narration was dismal. Though she could pronounce French names well enough, I have seldom heard someone so consistently nutcher Spanish ones. And under French rule the island was called Saint Domingue, not “Saint Dominique”! This book deserves a better performance.
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- Rollin
- 11-01-11
Fascinating history, badly narrated
If you are interested in recent history of Latin America and the US, you'll probably enjoy this well researched book on Cold War conflict between the US, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. The author's case that it's necessary to look at all these countries together is quite convincing and novel (for me, anyway). She provides fascinating detail and insight into the principal players, from Toussaint l'Ouverture all the way down to Fidel Castro and including the Kennedys and the sinister Papa Doc. She also makes the important point that knee-jerk anti-Communism in the US provoked irrational reactions to nationalist (non-Communist) movements in the Caribbean, setting the stage for military dictatorships in the region. Experts as well as the general public will, I think, enjoy this book. However, a major drawback is Sarah Coome's narration. I generally like the English accent, but she overdoes the pauses and lilts. Her horrendous pronunciation of names in Spanish and French turned me off completely. I don't expect a narrator of Latin American history to speak French or Spanish well, but I do expect her to get advice on not mispronouncing hames in these languages in the egregious manner of Sarah Coomes.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Buretto
- 01-19-24
The ignorance and idiocy of rabid anti-communism
The book starts out slow, but gains steam about a third of the way. It's a quite comprehensive and uncompromising account of colonialist imperialism, revolution and counter-revolution. And none of the primary players emerge unscathed. Despite Castro taking top billing by virtue of his face on the cover, Duvalier and Trujillo share the spotlight in Caribbean intrigues. But even with that, the overriding theme of this book is highlighting the short-sighted and reactionary U.S. policy of anti-communism. It's not a new idea, but just gives support to the idea that these efforts to prop up right wing dictators and otherwise pliable stooges in the region, in order to secure Pax Americana at any cost, did more harm than good. As for the performance, I can only suppose the narrator was chosen for her ability to convey a strident revolutionary tone. Personally, I would have preferred a more, let's say, euphonious voice, over this rather harsh one. Still, quite an entertaining and informative book, but not great.
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- Steven Schuster
- 08-27-11
Enjoyable, Well Resarched History of the Caribbean
Von Tunzelman's has written a colorful history of Hati, Dominican Republic, and Cuba during the cold war. If you're interested in the history of Caribbean politics, and the U.S role, then this will serve as an interesting primer. She provides many details that would make a fascinating novel, that are even more compelling because they are true.
The author's premise that the U.S.'s paranoia of Communism, and it's reluctant support of dictators who used the issue to garner U.S. support, while they oppressed their people, is well founded.
Although, Von Tunzelmann covers Castro's rise comprehensively, she neglects to write about his many years of dictatorship of the island. Absent are reports of the thousands of political prisoners rotting away in Castro's prisons. This absence undermines her argument. Obviously, the thousands of people who escaped during the Mariel Harbor boat lift are proof that the Castro rule is not as benign as she would like us to believe. In spite of this, her argument that Castro could have been persuaded to have friendly relations with the U.S. before the relationship soured, has validity.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Terry Hanson
- 02-19-20
Mixed thoughts
I’m not sure how all the books on audible are 4.5 stars. Even books like this. It’s clearly not >4.0. I would have given it a 3 IMHO. There are some good things and bad.
The good is there is a wealth of information not easily found. The story has a unique perspective about Caribbean history in the 60’s. They are critical of everyone, not just a one sided story. I almost quit listing early on. The problem was the tone of the book is very snarky. If you add the annoying speaker it makes it a difficult read. She over pronounces and makes every sentence dramatic. In the end she comes off patronizing. Also there is a lot of clicks and hisses and weird audio quality with words ending in s.
The reason I gave it a 3 was much of the history is conveniently incorrect to support their narrative. For example they say Fidel was an anti-communist. There might have been groups he was warry of, but he's a full blown communist. He reappropriated everything on the island - homes, land, farms, business, etc. All never mentioned. Also Fidel met with Jimmy Carter around 2010, there he told Carter that he (Fidel) told Khrushchev to launch the nuclear missiles at the USA. I mean it goes on and one the history not mentioned. I say that, and even though I am critical of the book, if you like the era or want to know more, its worth a listen.
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- Skater Dad
- 06-03-17
You have a right to your own opinions, but not your own facts.
I can handle a leftish screed because I don't fear contrary viewpoints. What I can't handle is falsehoods masking themselves as truth. Case in point, Fidel Castro was never scouted by any US baseball teams and never received any offers from the Giants, Senators or the Yankees. Even a cursory google search by the author would have turned up many websites debunking this tired, decades-old myth. This calls into question the credibility of every other "fact" stated in the book.
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