One Day in December: Celia Sánchez and the Cuban Revolution

by Nancy Stout, Alice Walker (Foreword)

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Biography, Education, Social Justice, Theory

400 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2013

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking to get a Che shirt with Celia's pic on it instead.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

One Day in December is written in a rambling, conversational style which often reads as gossipy, but then at times it seems as though this is the only way that it could have been written, relying heavily as it does on, well, gossip (or more politely put the anecdotal stories of family, friends, and comrades). This I don't criticize, exactly, however it does lead to the inclusion in the body of the text information which would have been more befitting of a footnote (there are none), as well as asides which often appear tenuously relevant if at all.

The portrait presented of Celia Sanchez herself is well in line with her popular image and legacy, which I enjoy, however at times it did seem as though the author was shoehorning events into an image. This usually takes the form of surrounding core facts with speculation as to what Celia must have thought or felt, without any supporting information beyond it being "the sort of person she was," where that "sort of person" upholds a number of markers of being mythologized. (The Celia described was always strong, always kind, always generous, always just, etc.) Still, I am an admirer, which makes it difficult to come down too hard on a portrait which may sometimes glow a little too brightly.

Where I did find the content frustrating was in its often disproportionately heavy focus on Celia's personal style, rumors surrounding her relationship to Fidel, and the "feminine touches" she brought to clandestine service and war. I understand that this framing of her life is embedded in her legacy, but there were points at which it seemed over the top or incongruous with events to the point of having left me (possibly bitterly) saying to myself that a biography of a man would never have been written like this.

Overall, however, the book is filled with stories and anecdotes not easily found elsewhere in English, as well as generous photographs spanning her life (though some are described but not shown, leaving the reader wanting), and among the not-always-relevant asides there are a number of interesting stories I'm not sorry to have read. It's a good book; it simply could have been a better one. How much better is, in part, a matter of tastes.

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Celia Sanchez is not a familiar name beyond Cuban borders but that should change with this, the first comprehensive biography of her life.

As a committed soldier of social justice, she was instrumental in driving one of the greatest revolutions of the 20th century and US writer Nancy Stout retells the story of an inspirational female revolutionary.

Before she became an integral member of the 26th July Movement - paving the way for Fidel Castro's presidency in Cuba from 1959 - Sanchez was already admired locally as the daughter of a respected doctor. During the 1940s and '50s, her extensive charitable activities meant that she was not only well acquainted with everyone along the south-west coast of Cuba but that she was also well loved.

Her knowledge of land and people proved vital for the movement. Sanchez rallied the support of both the workers and the wealthy across Cuba to create a robust underground network. Without it, Fidel Castro and his rebels could not have overthrown Fulgencio Batista's regime.

Stout, who dedicated 10 years to original research, takes a narrative approach to Sanchez's role in the movement, drawing on primary sources including first-hand interviews with the people closest to her.

While Stout's book serves to correct facts which are widely misquoted, such as the number of guerilla fighters who survived the Granma's 1956 voyage from Fidel's place of exile in Mexico to Cuba, she is more interested in capturing the personalities involved and recreating the spirit of revolt through vivid detail.

This is an extraordinary biography, charting Sanchez's involvement from initial organisation of Fidel's landing to her remarkable transformation of a thorny thicket - marabuzal - into a preliminary training ground for rebel soldiers.

From trials to triumph, the final section of the book records her unprecedented archival and architectural projects in her ministerial role.

Stout honours her legacy without delving too deep into the intrigue surrounding the relationship between Castro and Sanchez. Previously, this is the only way Sanchez's name had drawn attention in the English-speaking world. However, this book presents an opportunity to meet an elegant, tenacious and resolute woman who remains, to this day, Cuba's front-line heroine.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/ne...

[Therese Brink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celia Sanchez worked closely with Fidel and was an integral part of the Cuban Revolution. People in Cuba are very familiar with Celia Sanchez and admire her greatly. People get married in front of her terracotta monument in Manzanillo. Sadly Sanchez's story is virtually unknown of in the rest of the West. One Day in December rectifies this.

While the writing is not great, neither is it bad. I was fascinated learning about the Cuban Revolution, and Celia's very important part in it. I am glad I read this book. Women are often relegated to the footnotes, and this book does a good job of restoring Celia Sanchez's place in history.

[John Thorndike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stout gives us, in remarkable detail, the life of a woman deeply involved with the Cuban Revolution. Just how deeply came as a revelation to me. No book, I believe, in either Spanish or English, has told us a tenth as much about Celia Sanchez.

Most readers will come to the story with some prior fascination with Cuba and Fidel Castro. Without that it might be slow going, as Celia is tracked almost day-to-day during some of the intense moments of the rebellion and the victory that followed. Personally, I never flagged. I was impressed by Stout’s research into this long-time companion of Fidel’s, a woman who was often more of a counselor, someone with a better grip on politics and tactics than Fidel himself.

The first question many readers will ask is, What were Celia’s relations with Fidel? Were they lovers? What did they do about Fidel’s other lovers, and his wife? Here the curtain is drawn, perhaps out of Stout’s loyalty to her subject, perhaps because she doesn’t know. It is true that Celia can do no wrong in the eyes of the author, and this occasionally raised some doubts for me. Fidel and Celia, for example, are portrayed as ideal parents who adopted a number of semi-abandoned children—-yet the kids spent most of the week, from Sunday afternoon to Saturday morning, off at a boarding school. Even with the children he had before Celia came along, I don’t think Fidel was much of a father. In general, he fares pretty well in the book—though Stout does write this: “Photographs of Fidel from this [earlier] period radiate warmth and good humor in a manner that is compelling. Look closely and you’ll see a definite sweetness in his smile, a curiosity in his gaze. (Which is all to say, there was once a temperature in Fidel Castro that, over the last fifty years, has clearly plummeted.)”

Aside from such minor quibbles, I was swept along by the clear prose, the dynamic character of Celia Sanchez, and a thousand stories I’d never heard before. The Cuban Revolution, like many others, has been mythologized, and here is the perfect antidote: the story of a full-blooded and determined woman operating at the very heart of the Revolution.

[Bronwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I became interested in learning more about Celia Sanchez after travelling to Cuba. It's obvious this book has been a labour of love for the author as she spent 10 years researching and writing it. Celia Sanchez was certainly an amazing woman who could almost be described as the engine of the Revolution, networking and supplying Fidel and the rebels in the mountains with everything from weapons to bedding and also networking with the huge number of urban participants. It was also interesting reading about the farmers in the Sierra Maestra helping the rebels and how they were supported/rewarded when Fidel came into power.

It's written in a very personal, conversational tone and I became very immersed in Celia's story and I also googled most of the people mentioned in the book so it took my a while to finish it. I would have liked to have known more about Celia's life after the revolution, the book mainly focuses on the years just prior. I would also have liked some detail on her reactions to the deaths of Camilo Cienfuegos who I read somewhere was her favourite and also Che Guevara.

I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the Cuban Revolution, it also provided some interesting details on the young Fidel Castro and their relationship.

[James Willcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extensively researched by a passionate author. The book is written in stops and starts and leaves me feeling the author is glad to be done with the exercise. It is worth the time to learn about an amazing woman. It is a great story poorly told.

[Redpoet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Read it for a fascinating account, unlike any you have read before of the Cuban Revolution, of Fidel, and most importantly of this absolutely incredible woman.

[Vladimir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Celia Sanchez was a very intriguing character, a brilliant woman in many ways. However, this book is hardly a resource that does her life justice. First of all, Stout idealizes her to the point that occasionally it's unpleasant to read. Secondly, her writing style is a tacky mixture of pseudo-literature, trashy journalism and local gossip. She had excellent resources, she interviewed Celia's family, adopted children, co-workers and had unprecedented access to Cuban archives, and it's a shame that she didn't manage to produce a decent work.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to begin understanding Cuba's history as we are traveling there in December. Celia Sanchez was a significant part of Castro's successfully overturning the Batista government. The respect she was shown by the rebels was remarkable considering this was the 1950s and she was a woman in a very macho culture. She was a remarkable woman. This book portrays a much more democratic Castro then what he turned out to be.

[Maria Gambale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book, but was inclined to give it 3 stars because it just doesn’t feel like a fully edited book, could have used so much more finessing. But it’s 4 stars in most respects - thoroughly engaging, an amazing story, excellent research, and has a charming, haphazard transparency.

[Christian Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic account of Celia Sanchez. A detailed account of the set up before Fidel landed and why Celia and Frank Pais’ work leading up to the landing and after is what made the revolution successful.

[Stella Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had previous never heard of Celia Sánchez but I doubt there will be many days in the future where she doesn’t cross my mind. An incredible, inspirational woman who I spent the entire book absolutely in awe of.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was so easy to fall into this great, comprehensive, and well-researched biography. I had not been aware of how deeply and expansively Celia had contributed to the Revolution. Can’t believe the Coppelia was one of her projects!! Thank you for the ice cream, Celia :’)

[Daniel Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and revealing. Amazing detail about the life of Celia.

[Katlyn Howery · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books I’ve ever read

[Cynthia Bullock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about the Cuban revolution and the woman leading it.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good insight, but some parts are just guessed by the author, would have been better without it

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Celia is a fascinating badass, and this a life-changing book. She did at least as much in the revolution as, actually more than, Che. Stop erasing women! She was Fidel's basically wife and partner in life, without any romance. Incredible. She lived with grace, from bringing the entire community in her part of the island together slowly before the revolution, giving out shoes to kids for Christmas, hosting parties and fishing trips to build solidarity, landscaping guerrilla hideouts, literally fighting with the troops, pressuring people for money, setting up the top-secret troop training and outfitting post right under the government's nose inside a cave she had soldiers cut in a giant thorn thicket, even invisible from the air, wearing gardenias as boutonnieres, and giving bouquets of them as thank you gifts, planning Fidel's whole landing back in Cuba to the last detail, setting up their communication system in the mountains, running the entire clandestina undercover resistance in the city, being sure everyone had the cigars they liked, designing Lenin park, on and on with, yes, so much grace and fierce and dedicated and intelligent compassion. I was inspired, but I also learned so many specifics that I can literally use in these and the coming days as we practice resistance within this police state. Incredible.

I bought it in Cuba, and just noticed it took me exactly 3 years to read it! It's not that it's a hard read - I just didn't want it to end.

[Marc Lichtman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine biography of one of the great heroes of the Cuban Revolution, who like so many others is relatively unknown in the United States. After her death in 1980, they had to assign many people to do all the tasks she had done.

See alsoWomen in Cuba: The Making of a Revolution within the Revolution.

[Tim Weed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-told story of a central figure in the Cuban Revolution who is not as well known as she should be, given the critical role she played in that struggle. I finished the book feeling a great sense of affection for Celia, and a sense of loss as well. And I have a much more nuanced understanding of the early years of the Cuban Revolution, which is one of the greatest underdog stories in modern history. Highly recommended.

[Iara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know about Celia Sánchez before finding this book. I really liked its account of Celia's role in the Cuban Revolution, from the arrival of Granma to the victory against Batista. After that point, though, I felt the book lost the initial grip. Even so, it helped me get a better sense of a fascinating character.