Griffin , Nicholas

Nicholas Griffin is a journalist and author of four novels and works of nonfiction, including Ping Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World. His writing has appeared in The Times, The Financial Times, Foreign Policy, and other publications. The Year of Dangerous Days: Riots, Refugees, and Cocaine in Miami 1980 (37 Ink) is a rich chapter in the story of how the city came to be one of the world’s most popular vacation spots, with nearly 10 million tourists visiting annually. There’s an improbable cast of characters including Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, and Janet Reno. But there’s also Edna Buchanan, a Miami Herald reporter who breaks the story on the wrongful murder of a Black man and its shocking police cover-up, and Capt. Marshall Frank and Mayor Maurice Ferré, who watch the city fall apart with the case. As drug cartels flood the city with cocaine and infiltrate all levels of law enforcement and government, Miami explodes in one of the worst race riots in American history as more than 120,000 Cuban refugees land on its coast. A more vibrant city emerges, literally built on corruption and drug money – and this will have severe ramifications for the rest of the country. Kirkus called it an “engrossing peek-between-your-fingers history of an American city on the edge.”