Ten Days in Harlem

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 TIMESNew 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