bacardi and the long fight for cuba
922578
Great book!! The history of the Bacardi family and Bacardi rum is the history of modern Cuba. This book gives one insight into the origins of modern Cuba, the revolutions and the ascension of the Castro family. If you ever wanted to know why Cubanos love Cuba, and why many left, this book explains it all.
422617
I bought this book at the airport in Havana, Cuba. It is a completely engrossing view of the Zapata swamp and the change in the lives of the charcoal makers made by the 1959 revolution. The other impression I came away with was the horror of war, the sacrifices and the human cost of the now nearly 60 years of U.S. hostility to Cuban independence from the capitalist economic system. Like the economic, financial and commercial blockade that despite Pres. Obama's visit still exists, this writer points out the violation of international law engaged by the highest levels of the U.S. government. Dare we forget the non-existent 'weapons of mass destruction' used as an excuse for invasion and destruction of Iraq?  I visited Playa Giron and now I want to go back. I was surprised and glad to see this book for sale in the U.S. I bought it for a friend, and am sending my copy to another friend to share this inspiring and well documented story.
408869
When you meet the beautiful Cuban heroin of this beautifully written saga, she seems like the kind of heiress who will be quickly married off to landed gentry. Instead she is swept into the revolutionary currents of the Caribbean in the time of slavery, and into the arms of a real-life historical figure who was an 18th century Robespierre of the Caribbean. His sense of destiny and sexual charisma appeal to her existentialism, though his egotism becomes tiresome, and his endless embrace of conflict begins to seem more manic and less rational as time wears on. Some of the things he says bear a strange resemblance to some of the utterings of Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro, who ruled Cuba at the time this novel was published, to great acclaim, in 1962. So it's fun to try to parse exactly what was on the late Carpentier's mind as he wrote this smart swashbuckling adventure, which will help the reader to understand the history of the Caribbean at a time when the slaves were being freed.
468614
In "Bay of Pigs", Peter Wyden pulls out all the stops- and asks the many questions that remained unasked for nearly two decades after the infamous episode in America's foreign relations. The Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 had originally been planned by Eisenhower before he left office in January 1961- and he handed over the plan of action to Kennedy- who was trying to paint himself as a tough anti-Communist at a time when the Cold War was raging. It's well known that the U.S. backed the unpopular dictator Fulgencia batista in Cuba and millions of Cuban citizens were not happy with the status quo. Fidel Castro saw an opening and fought a guerilla war against the government, taking power in January 1959 and quickly seizing control of major industries, the press and many other operations, including the lucrative casinos and illicit operations run largely by the America Mafia. Mafia leaders were outraged and wanted retribution and their property back. It has been speculated for almost four decades exactly what Kennedy discussed with his advisors in the CIA and other intelligance agencies- and how he came to the fateful decision to invade Cuba (it had only been in the planning stages until then). Yet- he made the final decision- somewhat half-heartedly- and it turned out to be a public relations disaster, leading Kennedy to go before reporters and utter his famous quote "It's been said that success has a thousand fathers, yet failure is an orphan".

The meetings leading up the the Bay of Pigs invasion- one meant to overthrow the Castro government and return Cuba to democracy- are said to have involved "groupthink"- the reluctance of individuals to disagree with a train of thought which appeared popular to the group overall. Indeed, Bobby Kennedy- JFK's Attorney General- tried unsuccessfully to argue against this invasion and thought it unwise and reckless. Yet, JFK gave in- but only halfway. He actually allowed the ground troops to land via several ships hitting the Cuban coast- but called off the air support at the last minute- stranding the infantry and dooming them to failure. As a result, the Bay of Pigs invasion is routinely quoted as one of the worst planned, illogically conceived and poorly enacted foreign relations activities in American history.

Peter Wyden interviewed dozens of critical observers and participants- including Fidel Castro- in writing this important book. Fans of American history- and those who follow government policy- will enjoy his detailed analyses and hard-hitting commentaries. This book was an important contribution to the body of knowledge on this famous event (it came out in 1980- several books on the topic have followed) and any history buff or watcher of the "world stage" will like what it tells us all...

-Gene Pisasale,
Author, "Lafayette's Gold- The Lost Brandywine Treasure" and
"Vineyard Days"
3446035
I WAS IN CUBA IN 1959 AND WAS RIVETED WITH THE DETAIL.. AND THE PEOPLE.
LOTS OF STUFF VERY FAMILIAR.. I DID MEET RAUL IN THE  HILTON CASINO ONE EVENING
WHEN HE ESCORTED THE UNITED FRUIT REPRESENTITIVE.. THE CASTROS TOOK THE MONEY
AND THEN TOOK THE LAND.. THEY JUST REPLACED ONE MOB WITH ANOTHER ONE.
1627956
As an individual who has been present watching countless Cuban young people snorting coke, smoking marijuana, prostituting themselves to tourists to feed their families while eating canned Russian dog food to keep from starving to death, I beg to differ with the basis for his "review".  This book simply shows that the Cuban people suffered before the Castrista regime as they certainly continue to suffer today. The book is well done. It is a shame, however, that it was used as a format for Castrista blather and outright lies. I have been there. I have dedicated much of my adult life to the Cuban situation both on the island and in the diaspora and am the mother of two wonderful Cuban-American children whose Cuban family is hungry, NOT ALWAYS SMILING, without healthcare and with a progressively declining level of what was once an excellent educational system. Don't be fooled. If the Cuban people are smiling now, as many were before the revolution, it is because their sense of humor is a part of their resilliance that allows them to survive through one hellish regime after another.
3136816
A remarkable novel from a young writer.  A riveting account of the 1959 Cuban Revolution that toppled the corrupt Batista regime and put Fidel Castro in power.  It is told in disparate stories of people involved.  Some of the characters are fictional, some real.  The  historical figures include Batista, Fidel and Raul Castro, and the fatuous American ambassador.  The fictional characters include a former SS officer who supplies arms to the rebels, and an exotic dancer abandoned by her mother in a sordid Havana night club, when she was 13. The setting is Oriente Province, in the huge enclave owned by the United Fruit Company, worked by destitute Haitian sugar cane cutters, and run by Americans living an extremely affluant "company" lifestyle.  The stories all coalesce in an electrifying climax.  The author's mother was one of the American "expats," but the story is extrardinarily realistic, as if Miss Kushner lived through it herself.  I, myself, lived in Cuba briefly, during the Revolution and find her story "rings true."
492581
OK, so this is my favorite Mavericks song anyway; not an easy task since, if you listen to these fellows long enough, it seems impossible to pick just ONE as best. My objectivity is tainted by the song's political tone. Though not directly, I can relate to the story behind the song. There's a version of this on You Tube in which Raul Malo explains:
"About 30 years ago, my aunt was in Havana.
She was protesting the Castro regime, like we all should.
And was hauled off and told that for thirty years she couldn't leave the island.
So thirty years from that day she came over and said it was like going from hell to paradise.
And there's a little part of me in this song that I wrote in Spanish
And we dedicate it every night to all those who have died and are still trying, trying to get into our country." (from a July, 1995 concert at Saratoga Springs, NY where, a month later, Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner, Thunder Gulch, would win the Travers Stakes)
4017061
These are two of the most important documents of the Cuban Revolution, passed by mass meetings in 1960 and 1962. They had a huge impact not only in Cuba, but throughout all of Latin America, and to a lesser extent, the whole world. They come complete with an excellent introduction by socialist leader and publisher Mary-Alice Waters, along with a glossary and chronology.

Some of the other important books to read to understand the impact of the Cuban Revolution are:&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Dynamics-of-the-Cuban-Revolution-A-Marxist-Appreciation/dp/0873485599/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Dynamics of the Cuban Revolution: A Marxist Appreciation</a>, by Joseph Hansen, former secretary to Leon Trotsky in Mexico;&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/History-Will-Absolve-Me-Castro-s-Court-Argument/dp/1508827621/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">History Will Absolve Me: Castro's Court Argument</a>, which became the revolutionary-democratic program of Fidel Castro's July 26th Movement;&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Episodes-of-the-Cuban-Revolutionary-War-1956-58/dp/0873488245/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War, 1956-58</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Aldabonazo-Inside-the-Cuban-Revolutionary-Underground-1952-58-A-Participant-s-Account/dp/0873489683/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Aldabonazo: Inside the Cuban Revolutionary Underground, 1952-58: A Participant's Account</a>, two of the best accounts by leading participants of the Cuban Revolutionary War. Then I recommend&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Selected-Speeches-of-Fidel-Castro/dp/0873487001/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro</a>.

Round that off with&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Cuba-and-Angola-Fighting-for-Africa-s-Freedom-and-Our-Own/dp/1604880465/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Cuba and Angola: Fighting for Africa's Freedom and Our Own</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Women-in-Cuba-The-making-of-a-revolution-within-the-revolution-From-Santiago-de-Cuba-and-the-Rebel-Army-to-the-birth-of-the-Federation-of-Cuban-Women/dp/1604880368/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Women in Cuba: The making of a revolution within the revolution. From Santiago de Cuba and the Rebel Army, to the birth of the Federation of Cuban Women</a>, and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/It-s-the-Poor-Who-Face-the-Savagery-of-the-US-Justice-System-The-Cuban-Five-Talk-of-Their-Lives-Within-the-Us-Working-Class/dp/1604880856/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">It's the Poor Who Face the Savagery of the US Justice System: The Cuban Five Talk of Their Lives Within the Us Working Class</a>.
721224
With a mix of magic and truth, Ana Menendez introduces the reader to Cubans living in Miami, people who have left their homes after the revolution.  The characters are incredibly interesting in the way they have created themselves in the US, yet have held on to the food, music, and stories of their past. This book has been on my shelf for a few years, and I am so glad that I finally read it.  I would recommend it as well to junior and senior high school students.
1199031
Another excellent book by Carlos Eire.  After reading Waiting for Snow in Havana I had to read this one too.  I was not disappointed.  Learning to Die  goes into more indepth  experiences in Carlos' first weeks and months in Miami.  There was quite a contrast in treatment between fellow Cubans in Miami, one couple who" cared" for him was in it for the money  while the other family, did it out of their compassion for a fellow countryman.  Also one learns more about the mother's experiences in leaving Cuba and finally reaching her sons in the US.  The  contrast between the brothers' adjustment to a new culture and what they made of themselves is interesting.
2666606
From the moment Fidel Castro made the choice to wage war against the dictatorial government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista and to begin the Cuban Revolution, his life was in constant jeopardy. There were the perils of guerrilla warfare in the Sierra Maestra mountains, post revolution dangers from those he deposed, civilian and military, Cuban and US, plantation owners and crime bosses, who so profited under Batista. Then there were the numerous CIA attempts to kill Castro with poison pills, toxic cigars and exploding mollusks. Rumor has it that the dictator once even volunteered to kill himself. He was joking, of course. For nearly half a century, the CIA, Cuban exiles, and heaven knows who else, have been trying to devise ways to assassinate el Presidente.

However, Lawrence Block did not know this when he wrote "Killing Castro." The book was originally published by Monarch in 1961 as "Fidel Castro Assassinated." Block used the pseudonym Lee Duncan, a moniker adopted for this novel alone.

"Killing Castro" is as much about the journeys, literal and figurative, of five men, as it is about an assassination. Five Americans are offered twenty thousand dollars apiece to kill Castro. That was really a lot of money back in 1961. The loot is to be collected after the fact. Every one of the five has different reasons for slipping into Cuba and risking his life to kill a man relatively unknown to them, except for the media, stories from Cuban exiles, and government statements. It is, after all, only 1961, two years into the revolution and shortly before the Cuban missile crisis. Each man's journey, his motivations and outcome, are what is really exciting and unexpected here. All of these characters are changed by this deadly adventure.

Then one wonders who or what entity is behind the operation? Impoverished Cuban refugees could hardly have scraped together one hundred thousand dollars. So, "who was financing the assassination? Tobacco and sugar planters? Oil refiners? Batista fascists hungry to regain power? Americans unwilling to tolerate a Communist nation ninety miles offshore?"

Interspersed between the narrative are italicized chapters which provide a historical perspective on Castro and the reasons he became involved in the politics of revolution. The history of the man, his years as a student and young revolutionary, are absolutely fascinating - especially as the changes which occur in him are contrasted with those which take place in his prospective killers. However, there are occasions when the author, through the  voice of the omniscient observer, makes certain points and allegations which are way too subjective for omniscience, and border on editorializing. I think Block would have been more credible had he used one of his characters to express these personal political views.

I really enjoyed "Killing Castro," and although it is far from the author's best work, it certainly makes for an entertaining read.

Kudos to Hard Case Crime for making this most rare of Lawrence Block's thrillers available.
JANA
175080
Explica la naturaleza supersticiosa de la cultura Latinoamericana adecuadamente. Revela como Cuba nos quiso invadir por las creencias religiosas. Toca el oscuro negocio del comercio de muertos. El proyecto de Chvez, si existi, fue perpetuarse en el poder.....no creo que haya tomado mucho diseo.
3668167
Like any developing nation whose history is partly shaped by the secret agencies of more powerful countries, the history of Cuba, from the controversial sinking of the USS Maine onward, is more myth than historical fact. It is therefore fitting that Alex Abella should use fiction as a means of chronicling this shadowy episode of Cuban history leading up to and immediately following the Cuban Revolution.  With it, he probably reveals more about the deeply buried facts than any history text. He also brings it to life with vivid images -from the grotesque terror of Batista's police to a bizarre scene in which the dictator is being scorned by Chango, a Santeria god, during a ceremony in the basement of the Presidential Palace. At times Abella can be a little too whimsical as when a visiting American senator called John F. Kennedy inadvertently gets his head in the way of the assassin's crosshairs during an attempt on Batista, thus foiling a better moment to get rid of the tyrant and might not have saddled Cuba with yet another one. Of course, most Cuban-Americans are prepared to blame the Kennedys for every misfortune short of hurricane season. Elsewhere, though, the format allows for some interesting historical theses to be advanced. This includes the possiblity of a Soviet mole within the C.I.A. thus compromising its ambitious agenda to back all the players on the premise that they would then control the entire chess board.  Indeed it is historical fact that the American mission underwent a thorough changing of the guard about a year before the Revolution, documented evidence reflecting suspicions of some sort. It does explain why the Soviets who had an apparent absence from the scene in the early stages of the game wound up with such important political prize. As a rule these things don't just happen.  True or not, this is both an entertaining and provocative read from a very talented writer.
4309496
I had no previous knowledge of Cuba prior to Castros rise, so I was very interested in exploring this era.  MY LOST CUBA provides the reader with a wonderful view into the lives of some of its citizens during Batistas rule and the seismic changes they experience as the Cuba they loved slowly vanishes.  Mr. Gonzalez-Falla gives you a fascinating, first-hand glimpse into his characters lives filled with sugar cane, cattle, gambling, unexpected violence, and political unrest.  In some ways it echoes GONE WITH THE WIND as the world depicted is gone forever but is populated by unforgettable characters and a rich cultural history.
862364
This HBO film depicts one of the world's great trumpet players and his inner and outer struggle for freedom from Castro's tyranny. His talent allows Arturo Sandoval to travel the world, but his wife and family are back in Cuba.  His wife is a government employee who at first believes in the revolution until her eyes are opened to the reality behind the facade.  The final straw is when Castro kills a hero of the revolution because he feels his monolithic power is threatened.

  In 1990 Sandoval defects at the US embassy in Greece, but is stopped by bureaucracy until his friend Dizzy Gillespie calls the Vice President....yes, that's right, Dan Quayle the dunce.  Well the only good thing Quayle ever does is speeding Sandoval through the bureaucracy.  The irony here is that any Cuban who can get to the US by raft is granted US citizenship, but Sandoval is thoroughly grilled.

  The film has some great jazz and Afro-Cuban music and Andy Garcia is believable and entertaining as the lead.  When Castro goes, and it will be soon I hope, hopefully Cuba will have a true democratic revolution.
1368989
Una descripcin muy clara de la presin y el cinismo con que la Dictadura Cubana somete los sentimientos mas ntimos del ser humano a la supervisin y vigilancia de los rganos de represin, acechando hasta los sentimientos mas intimos de sus propios miembros y familiares allegados y chantajendolos hasta el lmite de la desesperacin.