Alex von Tunzelmann
Tunzelmann in 2018
Born	1977 (age 47–48) United Kingdom
Occupation	Historian Screenwriter Author Newspaper Columnist Podcaster
Nationality	British
Education	Brighton and Hove High School
Alma mater	University College, Oxford
Genre	Non-fiction
Subject	Cold War British Empire

Alex von Tunzelmann (born 1977) is a Britishpopular historian, author, newspaper columnist, podcaster and screenwriter.

Tunzelmann has stated that her surname is of German ancestry originating inSaxony in Germany and that she has family connections from Estonia since 1600 and New Zealand since 1850.^[1]

Tunzelmann was educated atBrighton and Hove High School,^[2] an independent school for girls inBrighton, and atUniversity College at theUniversity of Oxford. She read history and edited bothCherwell andIsis.

From 2008 to 2016, Tunzelmann wrote a column forThe Guardian entitled "Reel history", in which she discussed and rated popular films for their historical accuracy.^[3] She has also written forThe New York Times,Los Angeles Times,The Washington Post,The Daily Telegraph,Conde Nast Traveller, theBBC News website, theFinancial Times andThe Daily Beast.^{[citation needed]}

Tunzelmann has written five non fiction popular history books^[4]

• Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire, 2007, her first book, details the independence ofIndia in 1947 and the process leading up to it, as well as the consequences after independence.
• Red Heat. Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean, 2011, covers the relationship of the United States with Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti during the time of theCold War. Her overall framework is based on the idea that the Cold War was not a static phenomenon but instead dynamic and involved 'hot wars' as well.^[5]
• Reel History: The World According to the Movies, 2015, a humourous look at the history of the world as told through the movies, expanding on her long-running column for theGuardian.
• Blood and Sand: Suez, Hungary, and Eisenhower's Campaign for Peace, 2016, about theSuez Crisis of 1956.
• Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues That Made History, 2021, an exploration of the stories of twelve statues or groups of statues of historical figures that later became contentious, prompted by theremoval or defacement of statues during theGeorge Floyd protests of 2020.^[6]

She collaborated withJeremy Paxman on his booksThe Political Animal andOn Royalty. She also contributed toThe Truth About Markets byJohn Kay,Does Education Matter? by Alison Wolf, andNot on the Label by Felicity Lawrence.

Tunzelmann is the alternating co-host of the light-hearted British newspaper review podcastPaper Cuts.^[7] ForBBC Radio 4, she wrote and presented the seriesThe Lucan Obsession series ofThe History Podcast^[8] and also wrote the seriesHistory's Secret Heroes.^[9]

She appears regularly onSky News and onBBC current affairs programmes.^{[citation needed]}

Tunzelmann wrote the script for the movieChurchill, a film that received mixed reviews. Churchillian biographerAndrew Roberts noted the irony that, "Ms. von Tunzelmann—who once had a column inThe Guardian that attacked movies for their historical errors—has twisted the truth about Churchill".^[10]Matthew Norman in theEvening Standard acknowledged that despite the films "fancifulness", it was "an interesting and original study of a magnificent but unsaintly man raging in the dark against the dying of the light".^[11]

She also wrote episodes of theRAI period dramaMedici, focusing onthe powerful Florentine family.

Tunzelmann was recognized by theFinancial Times as Young Business Writer of the Year, and was shortlisted for the 2022Wolfson History Prize^[12] forFallen Idols.

• Alex von Tunzelmann atTwitter
• Alex von Tunzelmann atIMDb
• "Short biography from McClelland".
• "Guardian newspaper's Film features".The Guardian. London. 21 July 2008.Archived from the original on 22 July 2008. Retrieved23 April 2010.
• Corrigan, Maureen (2 August 2007)."In an Empire's End, Seeds of Freedom and Conflict".Fresh Air from WHYY. NPR.

• 1977 births
• Living people
• 20th-century British women writers
• 21st-century British historians
• 21st-century British women writers
• 21st-century British writers
• Alumni of University College, Oxford
• British film critics
• British film historians
• British people of German descent
• British women historians
• Cold War historians
• Historians of the British Empire
• Historians of India
• People educated at Brighton and Hove High School
• British women film critics
• British women television writers

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from October 2016
• Use British English from October 2016
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2025