Richard Oliver Collin

A secret, brilliantly organized, passionately committed terrorist army determinated to bring down a strategically important Western democracy. An increasingly desparate police. An American general whose kidnapping is just on move in a massive campaign to revolutionary violence. And a giant manhunt that becomes a breathless cat-and-mouse game with a man's life and the fate of a nations at stake. This might seem the stuff of thriller fiction, but it is what actually happened in Italy in the winter of 1981, when one of the most powerful and feared underground groups in Europe, the Red Brigades, captured U.S. General Dozier at the stage for a decisive battle between the establishment and the forces of change. Now, for the first time, the full epic story can be told, with all parties involved free to reveal what happened behind the scenes and headlines, and in the hearts and minds of the participants. Based on in-depth research, on the spot investigation, and superbly revealing interviews, Winter of Fire is a taut, spellbinding recreation of the drama as it unfolded from the points of view of those involved. Brought to life are such vivid figures as the daring, seemingly invincible Red Brigade mastermind, Antonio Savasta, who planned and led the kidnapping...the men and women who made up his terrorist team... the police commissioner, Salvatore Genova, who headed the strike force against the Red Brigades...and General James Lee Dozier, who survived combat in Vietnam to face an ordeal that would again test his courage in a terrorist "safe house". Probing deeply into the minds and methods of terrorists as well as the will and weaponry needed to fight them, Winter of Fire combines striking authenticity and riveting immediacy. It is history. It is adventure. It is taut, compelling reading from first page to last.
Dr. Richard Oliver Collin is Professor of Government and International Studies at the University of South Carolina's Coastal College campus. He has done graduate work at Harvard and Oxford, worked as an intelligence officer for the department of defense, and written articles dealing with terrorism and violence in European politics, as well as the critically acclaimed novel Imbroglio.
Gordon L. Freedman is a television and film producer in Los Angeles. He served as an investigator on the Senate Watergate Committee and is a former journalist and producer for ABC News. He is coauthor of the nonfiction Gifts of deceit: Sun Myung Moon, Tongsun Park, and the Korean Scandal.… (meer)