Fidel Castro & Cuba

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on this day, August 13th, in 1926.  Here are ten books on his life and Cuban history.

Castro's Secrets: The CIA and Cuba's Intelligence Machine by Brian Latell -In this riveting Cold War history, highly acclaimed author Brian Latell offers us a new and surprising look at Fidel Castro. Latell draws his narrative on personal interviews with high level defectors from Cuba's intelligence, many of whom have not spoken out for over nearly five decades. The result is a vivid and revelatory account that revises our understanding of how Fidel operated, what his goals were, and how he imagined the future for his tiny island nation. Latell takes us from from the crimes Fidel allegedly committed as a youth in the anti-Battista movement, to how quickly he built up an intelligence system that rivaled the Soviet Union's KGB and Britain's M15 in effectiveness, and how that translated into a feud with JFK's administration and the CIA, and the ultimate confrontation during the Cuban Missile Crises that brought the world to the brink of a nuclear holocaust.

Cuba Libre!: Che, Fidel, and the Improbable Revolution That Changed World History by Tony Perrottet - Perrottet chronicles the events of the Cuban Revolution and the figures at the center of the guerrilla uprising: Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and the scrappy band of rebel men and women who followed them. The general timeline of the Cuban Revolution of 1956-1958: It was led by two of the 20th century's most iconic figures, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara; it successfully overthrew the island nation's US-backed dictator; and it quickly went awry under Castro's rule. In this wildly entertaining and meticulously researched account, Tony Perrottet unravels the human drama behind history's most improbable revolution: a scruffy handful of self-taught revolutionaries--many of them kids just out of college, literature majors, art students and young lawyers, and including a number of women--defeated 40,000 professional soldiers to overthrow the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Cuba Libre's deep dive into the revolution reveals fascinating details and is an entertaining look back at a liberation movement that captured the imagination of the world with its spectacular drama, foolhardy bravery, tragedy, and, sometimes, high comedy--and that set the stage for a buildup of Cold War tension that became a pivotal moment in history.

Cuban Revelations: Behind the Scenes in Havana by Marc Frank - As a U.S.-born journalist who has called Havana home for almost a quarter century, Mark Frank has observed in person the best days of the revolution, the fall of the Soviet bloc, the great depression of the 1990s, the stepping aside of Fidel Castro, and the reforms now being devised by his brother. In Cuban Revelations, Frank offers a first-hand account of daily life in Cuba at the turn of the twenty-first century, the start of a new and dramatic epoch for islanders and the Cuban diaspora. Examining the effects of U.S. policy toward Cuba, Frank analyzes why Cuba has entered an extraordinary, irreversible period of change and considers what the island's future holds. The enormous social engineering project taking place today under Raúl's leadership is fraught with many dangers, and Cuban Revelations follows the new leader's efforts to overcome bureaucratic resistance and the fears of a populace that stand in his way.

The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Lider Maximo by Juan Reinaldo Sanchez with Axel Gylden - In The Double Life of Fidel Castro, one of Castro's soldiers of 17 years breaks his silence and shares his memoir of years of service, and eventual imprisonment and torture for displeasing the notorious dictator, and his dramatic escape from Cuba.
Responsible for protecting the Lider maximo for two decades, Juan Reinaldo Sánchez was party to his secret life - because everything around Castro was hidden. From the ghost town in which guerrillas from several continents were trained, to his immense personal fortune - including a huge property portfolio, a secret paradise island, and seizure of public money - as well as his relationship with his family and his nine children from five different partners.
Sanchez's tell-all expose reveals countless state secrets and the many sides of the Cuban monarch: genius war leader in Nicaragua and Angola, paranoid autocrat at home, master spy, Machiavellian diplomat, and accomplice to drug traffickers. This extraordinary testimony makes us re-examine everything we thought we knew about the Cuban story and Fidel Castro Ruz.

Fidel Castro: My Life: A Spoken Autobiography by Fidel Castro and Ignacio Ramonet - Fidel Castro is perhaps the most charismatic and controversial head of state in modern times. A dictatorial pariah to some, he has become a hero and inspiration for many of the world's poor, defiantly charting an independent and revolutionary path for Cuba over nearly half a century. Numerous attempts have been made to get Castro to tell his own story, but only now, in the twilight of his years, has he been prepared to set out the details for the world to read. Drawing on more than one hundred hours of interviews with journalist Ignacio Ramonet, a knowledgeable and trusted interlocutor, this spoken autobiography will stand as the definitive record of an extraordinary life lived in turbulent times.

Mafia Spies: The Inside Story of the CIA, Gangsters, JFK, and Castro by Thomas Maier - Mafia Spies is the definitive account of America's most remarkable espionage plots ever--with CIA agents, mob hitmen, "kompromat" sex, presidential indiscretion, and James Bond-like killing devices together in a top-secret mystery full of surprise twists and deadly intrigue. In the early 1960s, two top gangsters, Johnny Roselli and Sam Giancana, were hired by the CIA to kill Cuba's Communist leader, Fidel Castro, only to wind up murdered themselves amidst Congressional hearings and a national debate about the JFK assassination. Mafia Spies revolves around the outlaw friendship of these two mob buddies and their fascinating world of CIA spies, fellow Mafioso in Chicago, Cuban exile commandos in Miami, beautiful Hollywood women, famous entertainers like Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack in Las Vegas, Castro's own spies in Havana and his double agents hidden in Florida, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI snooping, and the Kennedy administration's "Get Castro" obsession in Washington. Thomas Maier is among the first to take full advantage of the National Archives' 2017-18 release of the long-suppressed JFK files, many of which deal with the CIA's top secret anti-Castro operation in Florida and Cuba. With several new investigative findings, Mafia Spies is a spy exposé, murder mystery, and shocking true story that recounts America's first foray into the assassination business, a tale with profound impact for today's Trump era. Who killed Johnny and Sam--and why wasn't Castro assassinated despite the CIA's many clandestine efforts?

One Day in December: Celia Sanchez and the Cuban Revolution by Nancy Stout - Celia Sánchez is the missing actor of the Cuban Revolution. Although not as well known in the English-speaking world as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Sánchez played a pivotal role in launching the revolution and administering the revolutionary state. She joined the clandestine 26th of July Movement and went on to choose the landing site of the Granma and fight with the rebels in the Sierra Maestra. She collected the documents that would form the official archives of the revolution, and, after its victory, launched numerous projects that enriched the lives of many Cubans, from parks to literacy programs to helping develop the Cohiba cigar brand. All the while, she maintained a close relationship with Fidel Castro that lasted until her death in 1980.
The product of ten years of original research, this biography draws on interviews with Sánchez’s friends, family, and comrades in the rebel army, along with countless letters and documents. Biographer Nancy Stout was initially barred from the official archives, but, in a remarkable twist, was granted access by Fidel Castro himself, impressed as he was with Stout’s project and aware that Sánchez deserved a worthy biography. This is the extraordinary story of an extraordinary woman who exemplified the very best values of the Cuban Revolution: selfless dedication to the people, courage in the face of grave danger, and the desire to transform society.

The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba by Julia Cooke - Over a period of five years, beginning when Fidel Castro stepped down from his presidency after almost a half-century of reign, journalist Julia Cooke embedded herself in Cuba, gaining access to a dynamic Havana--one that she found populated with twenty-five-year-old Marxist philosophy students, baby-faced anarchists, children of the whiskey-drinking elite, Santería trainees, pregnant prostitutes, and more. Combining intimate storytelling with in-depth reportage, The Other Side of Paradise weaves together stories of the Cubans whom Cooke encountered, providing a vivid and unprecedented look into the daily lives and future prospects of young people in Cuba today. From ambitious Lucía, a recent university graduate with an acerbic sense of humor and plans to leave Cuba for the first country to give her a visa, if she can just get the roadblocks out of the way--to a crew of mohawk-wearing teenage anarchists who toss bricks at police cars and cite lyrics by The Clash (but don't know the lead singer's name), the characters of The Other Side of Paradise paint a captivating portrait of Cuban culture and the emerging legacy of Fidel Castro's failed promises. Eye-opening and politically prescient, The Other Side of Paradise is sure to linger in readers' minds long after they've finished reading.

Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean by Alex von Tunzelmann - During the presidencies of Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, the Caribbean was in crisis. The men responsible included, from Cuba, the charismatic Fidel Castro, and his mysterious brother Raúl; from Argentina, the ideologue Che Guevara; from the Dominican Republic, the capricious psychopath Rafael Trujillo; and from Haiti, François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, a buttoned-down doctor with interests in Vodou, embezzlement and torture.
Alex von Tunzelmann's brilliant narrative follows these five rivals and accomplices from the beginning of the Cold War to its end, each with a separate vision for his tropical paradise, and each in search of power and adventure as the United States and the USSR acted out the world's tensions in their island nations. The superpowers thought they could use Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic as puppets, but what neither bargained on was that their puppets would come to life. Red Heat is an intimate account of the strong-willed men who, armed with little but words and ruthlessness, took on the most powerful nations on earth.

Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana, and Washington by Ann Louise Bardach - Including never-before-published information on Fidel's extraordinary half-century reign, award-winning journalist Bardach culminates years of fieldwork and countless interviews - including several with Castro himself - to paint a riveting portrait of the man who has controlled the island of Cuba since 1959 - outliving 10 American presidents and scores of assassination attempts. Only recently has Castro been vanquished - and only by his own, failing health. His impending death has ignited furious debate from both allies and enemies who now face a world without him.