Ten Days in Harlem: Fidel Castro and the Making of the 1960s

Review With its cool judgements and blackly comic sense of irony, Hall's book is a rare pleasure to read. -- Dominic Sandbrook ― Literary Review A lively account . . . Ten Days in Harlem doesn't stint on piquant detail. -- Thomas Meaney ― London Review of Books [A] perceptive, thoroughly researched and readable study. -- Brian Maye ― Irish Times An entertaining story. -- Dr. Christenna Fryar ― Free Thinking, BBC Radio 3 Fidel Castro's 1960 visit to New York was the Third World's great coming-out, and Simon Hall has captured this catalytic moment like no one before. Anyone interested in the "Global Sixties" must read Ten Days in Harlem. -- Van E. Gosse, Professor and Associate Chair of History, Program of Africana Studies, Franklin & Marshall College Simon Hall captures Castro's action-packed September 1960 New York sojourn in rich and compelling detail, and argues persuasively that its repercussions echoed deeply in the decade to come. ― New York Journal of Books [An] enjoyable account . Hall delivers his entertaining tale with brio. -- Peter Carty ― i Well-researched, compelling, entertaining and at times scarcely believable . . . an interesting portrayal of a fiery and transformative time in Cold War history and rich in detail. ― Americas Quarterly A wide-ranging exploration . . . Hall's informative, page-turning account captures the cultural and political tumult of the era, and the fervent idealism that made Castro a revolutionary icon. Political history buffs will want to take a look. ― Publishers Weekly A highly readable, engaging, astute microhistory of an overlooked event. ― Kirkus (Starred Review) Hall recovers Castro's visit as a critical turning point in the trajectory of the Cold War and the development of "The Sixties". ― Lithub Product Description Rising star Simon Hall captures the spirit of the 1960s in ten days that revolutionised the Cold War: Fidel Castro's visit to New York. 'With its cool judgements and blackly comic sense of irony, Hall's book is a rare pleasure to read.' DOMINIC SANDBROOK, Literary Review 'A lively account . . . Ten Days in Harlem doesn't stint on piquant detail.' LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS '[A] perceptive, thoroughly researched and readable study.' IRISH TIMES New York City, September 1960. Fidel Castro - champion of the oppressed, scourge of colonialism, and leftist revolutionary - arrives for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. His visit to the UN represents a golden opportunity to make his mark on the world stage. Fidel's shock arrival in Harlem is met with a rapturous reception from the local African American community. He holds court from the iconic Hotel Theresa as a succession of world leaders, black freedom fighters and counter-cultural luminaries - everyone from Nikita Khrushchev to Gamal Abdel Nasser, Malcolm X to Allen Ginsberg - come calling. Then, during his landmark address to the UN General Assembly - one of the longest speeches in the organisation's history - he promotes the politics of anti-imperialism with a fervour, and an audacity, that makes him an icon of the 1960s. In this unforgettable slice of modern history, Simon Hall reveals how these ten days were a foundational moment in the trajectory of the Cold War, a turning point in the history of anti-colonial struggle, and a launching pad for the social, cultural and political tumult of the decade that followed. 'Hall delivers his entertaining taile with brio.' i 'Hall captures Castro's action-packed September 1960 soujourn in rich and compelling detail, and argues persuasisively that its repercussions echoed deeply in the decades to come.' NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS Review Praise for 1956: The World in Revolt Vivid, powerful and panoramic ... I loved it. -- Dominic Sandbrook Engrossing ... A CinemaScope epic, packed with detail. -- Daily Telegraph Fast-moving and vivid. Hall is a fluent and unobtrusive narrator. -- Independent A marvellous social history. -- Observer Simon Hall cap