by Bill Buford
First published 1990
General Alfredo Stroessner ruled Paraguay for over three decades before his 1989 overthrow made him one of history's most enduring dictators. For years after his fall, no journalist could locate the General in his Brazilian refuge. Isabel Hilton succeeded where others failed by following leads from Stroessner's former lovers, who guided her to his secret hideaway. Her breakthrough interview forms the centerpiece of this collection, which also features contributions from literary heavyweights including Salman Rushdie, Richard Ford, Jonathan Raban, Gabriel García Márquez, Christopher Hitchens, and Margaret Atwood. The anthology captures a pivotal moment when one of South America's most notorious strongmen finally faced questioning about his decades of authoritarian rule.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, political-science, non-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Paraguay, Brazil
Period: 1989
256 pages · Paperback · Granta Publications