"The author tells a fascinating story, weaves in appropriate historical analysis, and does so in an engaging fashion. I know of no other work that gives so thorough an explanation of how Axis and Allied spies obtained their information."—Jürgen Buchenau, author of Tools of Progress: A German Merchant Family in Mexico City, 1865-Present
"Hitler's Man in Havana's archival research is wide-ranging, exhaustive, and unprecendented in bringing together heretofore untapped sources, many of them obtained by the author's FOIA requests, to make possible the telling of a story never satisfactorily presented before. The narrative is often gripping and firmly contextualized in the historical events of the period, not only tracking Lüning's activities but explaining the broader trends that produced his strange journey."—Max Paul Friedman, author of Nazis and Good Neighbors: The United States Campaign against the Germans of Latin America in World War II
"A fascinating study of an obscure German spy in Cuba during the second world war who was captured and executed in November 1942. Schoonover shows why the arrest and execution of an otherwise ordinary, even incompetent spy became such a sensation, as it served various and often competing objectives of politicians, diplomats, and intelligence officials in Cuba, the United States, Great Britain, and other countries. He shows why it is important to put the story of U.S. diplomacy and strategy in a wider, global context."—Akira Iriye, author of Global Community: The Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World
"A wonderfully told story, at times too weird and funny to be true (yet it is), of the key German espionage agent in Cuba and the strategic Caribbean entry to the Panama Canal—and the only agents captured and executed in Latin America during World War II. Its cast of characters include not only this rather hapless German spy who tried to use a dead radio for his transmissions, but Ernest Hemingway and Graham Greene, as well as self-serving, ego driven U.S. and Cuban bureaucrats.... One of the more fascinating and instructive stories of attempted espionage in World War II."—Walter LaFeber, Andrew and James Tisch University Professor, Cornell University
"Schoonover tells a good story, of interest to historians of German espionage, Allied counterintelligence, and inter-American relations." —Norman J. W. Goda, Journal of Military History
"The book is written eloquently and gracefully. [It] will provide the reader who harbors passion for history with an electrifying and rich account of details that expose the political upheavals of the time." —Richard Skaff,armchairinterviews.com
"Hitler's Man in Havana has several stories to tell, all interwoven. All of these stores are interesting, and the book will likely inform, and perhaps amuse, students of espionage and covert activities, Latin American history, and World War II." —The NYMAS Review
"This book tells the fascinating story behind Graham Greene's main character in his celebrated novel Our Man in Havana. The book sheds light on the various competing factions working for the Allies during that dark historical period." —Himilce Novas, Multicultural Review
"All of these stories are interesting, and the book will likely inform, and perhaps amuse, students of espionage and covert activities, Latin American history, and World War II." —NYMAS
Using extensive archival and other sources from Germany, Great Britain, Cuba, and the United States, Schoonover provides a meticulously documents account." —Central European History
"Schoonover provides a meticulously documented account of the blundering and failed activity of the German Abwehr (intelligence) agent, Heinz Lüning, in Havana.... The author has reconstructed much of Lüning's life that appears on the surface as comic and humorous – until it found a tragic and brutal end." —Central European History
"Thomas Schoonover's intriguing story of Heinz Lüning, a largely inconsequential figure of limited abilities in Nazi espionage, is based solidly on recently declassified Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files, as well as the records from archives in Germany, Great Britain, and the United States." —Global War Studies
"Schoonover weaves a fascinating tale of intrigue that opens windows for the reader with regard to key aspects of the intelligence communities in Cuba, Europe, and the United States." —H-Net Reviews
