The Cuban Missile Crisis may have gone down in history as lasting just 13 days, but according to one expert it was much longer and could have caused the end of the world.
Historian Alex von Tunzelmann will be talking about the largely secret war fought by the US against communism in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in a free public lecture ‘Red Heat in the Cold War: how US policy in the Caribbean nearly caused the end of the world’, at the University of Bath on 15 June.
Ms von Tunzelmann’s first book, Indian Summer, was published in 2007. It is in development as a feature film by Working Title Productions.
Her second book, Red Heat, was published in April this year. It is a history of the Cold War in the Caribbean, focused around the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Castros and the Kennedys. Ms von Tunzelmann also writes Reel History, a weekly column for the Guardian online about the truth behind historical films.
She said: “Was the threat of communism real, or had the United States created its own monster?
“This revisionist look at the Cold War draws telling parallels between the war on communism in the 50s and 60s and the war on terror today.”
The lecture is part of the University’s General University Lecture Programme (GULP).
The lecture takes place on the main University campus at Claverton Down in 8 West, Room 1.1 and run from 5.15pm to 6.30pm. Free parking is available in the West Car Park after 5pm.