Product Description

Fidel Castro is a dynamic and charismatic leader, who has led Cuba through success and failures since 1959. Son of a rich landowner, he became a radical revolutionary who attempted to overthrow the government in 1956 with a tiny band of followers. Using propaganda and subversion as much as sudden attacks from his mountain hideout, he gained victory in 1959. He liberated his country from one dictator and the overwhelming influence of the United States, only to turn it into another dictatorship firmly under the control and patronage of the Soviet Union. The failure of the American attack at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 added to his reputation, while the missile crisis of 1962 put Cuba right at the centre of the Cold War. Later, by sending his army to Africa and supporting guerrilla movements in Latin America, he made Cuba a significant player on the world stage. Despite many attempts to remove him and the economic collapse of the USSR, Castro survived and in 1999, celebrated 40 years of his regime.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42555 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

About the Author
Clive Foss is Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He was formerly Visiting Fellow at All Souls and Trinity Colleges, Oxford.

Customer Reviews

Castro & Cuba in 50 minutes
Succinct account of Castro and the Cuban revolution. Tells it how it was without overloading with detail and, apparently, without bias (the author is an America historian). Terrific purchase for those who want an initial introduction to the subject.

Useful list of further reading included.

Maybe a little too short (but sweet)
This is a good little unbiased account of the living legend, though it is just that little bit too short.

There are better
Castro and his circumstances are fascinating and a fertile ground for writers of all angles. He and his witnesses are mainly still alive
with lots of contemporary material. There are some great books by friends and enemies. Who was it that had a chapter headed "Castroenteritis"?

Clive Foss is an American writer and thats the problem here as you will find when you read deeper and more widely. His "The Tyrants" for example is a good book but not when it discusses those,for example horrible South American Dictators,supported by the USA