von Hassell, Agostino 1953-

PERSONAL:

Born 1953. Education: Columbia University, B.A., 1974; Columbia Journalism School, graduated, 1975.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—avonhassel@aol.com.

CAREER:

Repton Group LLC, New York, NY, president.

MEMBER:

U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association, La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (Washington, DC, chapter).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Named chevalier of La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin.

WRITINGS:

(With Keith Crossley; and photographer) Warriors: The United States Marines, foreword by Bernard Trainor, Howell Press (Charlottesville, VA), 1988.

(And photographer) Strike Force: U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations, Howell Press (Charlottesville, VA), 1991.

(With Herm Dillon) West Point: The Bicentennial Book, Howell Press (Charlottesville, VA), 2002.

In Honor of America, Howell Press (Charlottesville, VA), 2003.

(With Sigrid MacRae and Simon Ameskamp) Alliance of Enemies: The Untold Story of the Secret American and German Collaboration to End World War II, Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2006.

(With Herm Dillon and Leslie Jean-Bart) Military High Life: Elegant Food Histories and Recipes, University Press of the South (New Orleans, LA), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

In Alliance of Enemies: The Untold Story of the Secret American and German Collaboration to End World War II, Agostino von Hassell tells the story of a failed attempt to end the life of Adolf Hitler. Opposition to Hitler came from within the armed services, where army and navy officers—many of them from upper-class or well-connected families—objected to the ways Germany's leader was fighting World War II. On July 20, 1944, a high-ranking German military officer, Colonel Graf von Stauffenberg, detonated a bomb concealed in his briefcase during a military briefing, killing at least four attendees, but injuring Hitler only mildly. Hitler responded furiously, driving the secret police to uncover anyone even remotely connected with the attempted assassination.

One of those arrested was Ulrich von Hassell, Agostino von Hassell's grandfather. In the book, according to a ReadExpress.com reviewer, von Hassell and coauthor Sigrid MacRae "bring insight into the circumstances leading up to the bombing plot—including exasperation and distaste among German military leaders—and the feeble response of America and Britain that fatally weakened the attempted coup." Because of this, stated a Kirkus Reviews contributor, "the military officers who made up a good part of the resistance—which, unlike in France, was never coordinated, and not very effective—were forced to seek Hitler's removal by other means." The two "have done an impressive job of demolishing the myth of a German monolith, united behind their fanatical leader," according to a contributor to Publishers Weekly, "Their book," declared Ed Goedeken in Library Journal, "clearly shows that the war might have ended earlier had those who opposed Hitler within Germany received Allied assistance."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2006, review of Alliance of Enemies: The Untold Story of the Secret American and German Collaboration to End World War II, p. 895.

Library Journal, November 15, 2006, Ed Goedeken, review of Alliance of Enemies, p. 80.

Publishers Weekly, August 14, 2006, review of Alliance of Enemies, p. 190.

ONLINE

FoodReference.com,http://www.foodreference.com/ (March 31, 2007), "Chef James' Interview with Agostino von Hassell, Author of Military High Life: Elegant Food Histories & Recipes."

ReadExpress.com,http://www.readexpress.com/ (March 31, 2007), "Tonight's Top Stop: Agostino von Hassell," author interview.

Repton Group,http://www.thereptongroup.com/ (March 31, 2007), brief biography of Agostino von Hassell.