Alex Abella (born 1950) is an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

best known for his non-fiction works ''Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire'' (2008) and ''Shadow Enemies: Hitler's Secret Terrorist Plot Against the United States'' (2003, with Scott Gordon).

Early life

Abella was born in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

in 1950. His family left the country after the failed

Bay of Pigs invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly fin ...

of 1961. The family settled in New York, where Abella attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

on a Pulitzer scholarship. At school, he wrote for the '' Columbia Daily Spectator''.

Career

After college, Abella moved to California to work for the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'' initially covering local news, then network news as a reporter, writer, and producer. Abella left the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

in the late 1980s for

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, spending seven years there as a Spanish language interpreter for the

Los Angeles Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The ...

. His first novel, ''The Killing of the Saints'' (1991), is a Los Angeles

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

about the beliefs of the Santería religion used as a defense for murder. ''Saints'' and its sequels, ''Dead of Night'' (1998) and ''Final Acts'' (2000), feature a Cuban-American lawyer and investigator of Cuban heritage. Abella's second novel, ''The Great American'' (1997) is set in Cuba in 1957 during the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in co ...

and is the fictionalized story of a

United States Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

who fought on the side of Fidel Castro. Abella's non-fiction work includes ''Shadow Enemies: Hitler's Secret Terrorist Plot Against the United States'' (2003), co-authored with law

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

and current Los Angeles Superior Court judge Scott Gordon. The book is set in Germany during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and follows a group of German-American agents trained in

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. The author's most recent book, ''Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire'' (2008), is the first history of the foreign policy

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

founded by the

United States Military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is th ...

and funded in part by the

United States Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

. In addition to his non-fiction books, Abella has been a contributing writer with the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' and now contributes to the '' Huffington Post.''

Awards

At KTVU-TV, Abella was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Best Breaking News Story." His first novel, ''The Killing of the Saints'' (1991), was a ''New York Times'' Notable Book.

Works

Novels

* ''The Killing of the Saints'' (1991) * ''The Great American'' (1997) * ''Dead of Night'' (1998) * ''Final Acts'' (2000)

Non-fiction books

* ''Shadow Enemies: Hitler's Secret Terrorist Plot Against the United States'' (with Scott Gordon, 2003) * ''Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire'' (2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abella, Alex Living people 1950 births American writers of Cuban descent 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male novelists American crime fiction writers Hispanic and Latino American novelists Hispanic and Latino American journalists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers Columbia College (New York) alumni Cuban emigrants to the United States 21st-century American male writers