Christian Alfonsi

Christian Alfonsi is an American business executive and author. He is the author of Circle in the Sand, a study of White House policymaking during the two Bush presidencies, and the co-founder of Cinergistik. He was CEO of Metabook, the predecessor to Cinergistik.

Education Alfonsi received a PhD in political science from Harvard University's Department of Government in 1999.

Career Writing Alfonsi's nonfiction book, Circle in the Sand: Why We Went Back to Iraq, was published in 2006 by Doubleday; a paperback edition, retitled Circle in the Sand: The Bush Dynasty in Iraq, was published by Vintage Books in 2007.

In Circle in the Sand, Alfonsi examines the links between the two Bush presidencies and the wars in Iraq during their respective presidencies. He writes about the decision-making process that led to the Gulf War (1990–91) and its relation to the 2003 Iraq War. Alfonsi argues that the 2003 invasion of Iraq by George W. Bush's administration was a direct reaction to his father's mistake in leaving Hussein in power, and that the September 11 attacks were an indirect result of not overthrowing Hussein. He dissects how dissimilar the two Bush administrations were, both in style and strategy.

The Washington Post called the book "an eye-opener" with "plenty of juicy tidbits about the once and future Bushes," saying that it "works best as a retelling of the 1990-91 Gulf crisis with the benefit of new documents and on-the-record interviews with senior officials then and now." Metabook published titles by authors including John Berendt, Diane Clehane and Wally Lamb, and produced content featuring Elizabeth Banks, Laura Benanti, Alfonsi is executive producer on Cinergistik's documentary Whitney Houston in Focus, based on Bette Marshall's book Young Whitney, published by Cinergistik in February 2022.