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Fidel Castro: A Life from Beginning to End
Discover the revolutionary life of Fidel Castro in less than an hour... Free BONUS Inside! When Fidel Castro died on November 25, 2016, it seemed as if much of the world didn’t quite know what to make of the revolutionary leader. The images of loyal Cubans in Havana openly crying in the streets stood in stark contrast to the Cuban exiles and their descendants just 90 miles away in Miami, Florida. While Cuban citizens were mourning, Cuban Americans were celebrating; they were laughing, dancing, and drinking to celebrate Castro’s demise. It seems that Fidel Castro was just as polarizing in death as he was in life. Learn more about the life of one of the twentieth century’s most controversial figures. Discover a plethora of topics such as The Beginnings of a Revolutionary Castro Meets Che Guevara The Bay of Pigs The Cuban Missile Crisis Castro’s Soviet Ally The Assassination Conspiracy Doctors For Oil And much more!So if you want a quick and easy to read book on Fidel Castro, simply scroll up and click the "Buy now" button for instant access!
116 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 26, 2017
126 people are currently reading
320 people want to read
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Hourly History
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 5, 2019
This was a good book, never really know alot about Castro so this was a very inforamtive book.
August 30, 2020
Hourly History always does a great job in presenting a concise story and yet make it impactful for the reader. Fidel Castro is one of those few leaders who are appreciated and hated at the same time by people. Whichever aisle you hold you surely cannot ignore this revolutionary leader.
December 6, 2020
Hourly History should be appreciated at length for ensuring that we have collections of chapters on the major events as well as famous personalities. Castro has been a man who has been known for his tremendous leadership which has made him alive forever in the pages of history. This book covers all the major events which changed the course of world History and Cuba.
February 25, 2024
Well-researched and informative.
The book really well-depicts a man with his selfish ambition who wanted to be remembered as a special leader ab’ove the people, not with or among the people.
(Kindle Ed., p. 11)
His sales pitch to them was always the same; he promised that if they helped to finance his operations, he would overthrow Batista and restore democracy to Cuba, and by getting rid of the corruption and cronyism finally fix the Cuban economy. By doing all of this, he promised, there would be good jobs and lives waiting for any of the exiles who supported him. But when Fidel himself became the supreme dictator of Cuba, none of these promises would be fulfilled, and many of these very same exiles would one day be fighting the man they had financed.
(Kindle Ed., p. 17)
In a show of false magnanimity, when Castro gained power he pretended to delegate the presidency of Cuba to a man named Manuel Urrutia Lleo. Some viewed this liberal Cuban lawyer as an odd pick, but he didn’t just drop into the presidency out of nowhere. Manuel had played a pivotal part in overthrowing the Batista government. It was Manuel after all, who had traveled to the United States during the conflict and managed to persuade high ranking U.S. officials to stop backing the Batista regime. Fidel also rightly viewed the elder lawyer’s credentials and less radical resume would be more acceptable to the United States than a guerrilla in the wilderness that they knew nothing about. Wanting to play it safe—at least at first—Fidel opted to select Manuel as a safeguard for his fragile revolution. Even so, the two men almost immediately had disagreements about what direction the country should be taken. Manuel, being a Christian and eschewing the moral decay of Cuba, immediately set out to shut down all the brothels and casinos. But when this drew public outcry from those who worked at these establishments, Fidel overruled the president and demanded that these businesses be left alone...
(Kindle Ed., p. 18)
...This effort at reform managed to break one of Fidel’s promises to the Cuban people. When Fidel first came to power he famously declared, “we will not seize any land from anybody.” Yet those agrarian reform laws that he immediately began to push authorized the confiscation of land from anyone who had more than one thousand acres...for those who had their life’s work and generations of wealth ripped away from them overnight on the notion of Fidel Castro, it was a terrible nightmare and the reality of what a communist regime would be like began to set in.
(Kindle Ed., p. 14)
...The U.S. was at first rather reluctant to take a side but then opted to cease and desist with all aid to the Batista regime. The ambivalent attitude of the State Department was to let the two men duke it out and see who would come out on top. But this was devastating enough for Batista, and as soon as the U.S. pulled the plug on all American arms shipments to the regime...
Really? After all that Castro openly talked about in media? Sigh...the US government was the reason for the rise of Castro at the end, just like the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan. The United States author’ity is, indeed, an’other group of ordinary people after all, and she is to decline like all other empires before her.
(Kindle Ed., p. 27)
...he derided Khrushchev as a leader with no “no cojones” or as we might say in English, “no testicular fortitude.” But in the end, with no one else to gather Cuba’s much-needed financial aid from, he had to let bygones be bygones, and fall back in line with his Soviet handlers.
Correction: ...he derided Khrushchev as a leader with “no cojones” or as we might say in English, “no testicular fortitude.” But in the end, with no one else to gather Cuba’s much-needed financial aid from, he had to let bygones be bygones, and fall back in line with his Soviet handlers.
What a big “empty” mouth, ha!
(Kindle Ed., pp. 36-37)
Fidel wanted what had happened in Cuba to be duplicated all over the world; in other words, he wished to export the Cuban Revolution as his most successful commodity. After embedding the first foco units into hotbeds all over Latin America, Fidel turned his attentions toward the African continent where he found power vacuums in which he intended to insert communist governments. As a result, in 1964, Castro began to send militias to the most remote corners of Africa. Castro’s first major foray in Africa was with the Algerians, in his tacit support for Ahmed Ben Bella’s socialist regime. Fidel sent Cuban military as well as medical personnel to aid Ben Bella’s cause. He also aligned himself with the emerging socialist scene in the Congo, the place where, in 1965, he sent the revolutionary evangelist Che Guevara to convert the masses. The exercise in the Congo, despite its fame, was ultimately a disaster, with Che unable to rally the recalcitrant Congolese enough to carry out a revolution. Dispirited and disheartened, Che would go back to the ongoing foco groups already established in South America where he would ultimately be hunted down and killed by Bolivian soldiers in 1967. Despite rumors that Castro had viewed Che Guevara as an unwelcome rival and purposefully sent Che to his death, Fidel seemed to be genuinely grieved by the loss of his friend. And with the death of Che, much of Castro’s vision of fomenting global revolution died as well. Instead of attempting to create a third rail out of third world countries, Castro turned his attentions back to the Soviet Union, expressing his solidarity in dramatic fashion on August 20, 1968, when he went on Cuban TV to announce his support for the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. This move seemed to contradict much of his rhetoric of previous years in which he attempted to present himself as the champion of smaller nations fending for their right of self-determination. But Castro rationalized that the invasion was necessary to prevent counter-revolutionary measures...
Sounds very personal to me. I'm not any big fan of the past Colonialism either, but it wasn't just the colonizers who caused the mess in so-called the "Third World," but also the “selfish” ego of individuals with local power in their hands like Fidel Castro.
Funny that one of my "used-to-be" closest friends from Tennessee (I shall not share his name in publ’ic) has always been the biggest fan of Fidel Castro.
Really funny that he has never been a laborer in the field himself, but he always talks about the laborers and revolution bitching about governments.
Yet, when he was drunk, he always showed his real color talking about how better he had been 'cause of his racial identity: A White.
I do not talk to him anymore since he’s always been a selfish jerk whenever it comes to his proud "union" works. For his beloved union, he frequently ditched his friends with business appointments (although it was always him who asked us for help, thus the appointments for him) as if nothing else was more important than his connections and affairs with the union.
I’ve shared many deep conversations with him for many, many years, and I always felt like his ideology was more like a “faith” of certain god and religion to him. He is always right, but others with different opinions are wrong. And why he thought he was entitled to bitch about all the dictators in our history without realizing he'd been acting like one, and for that reason people were leaving him.
I kept thinking of my old, used-to-be friend reading this book about the life of Fidel Castro.
(Kindle Ed., p. 39)
Rampant unemployment and shortages of even the most basic commodities led to a crisis and paved the way for the mass exodus of Cubans to the shores of Miami, Florida in what became known as the Mariel Boatlift of April 20, 1980...But unbeknownst to the Carter administration which presided over the affair, Castro had planted his own version of the Trojan horse among his fleeing dissidents by packing the boats with as many dangerous criminals and mentally ill patients that he could find. Bill Clinton would experience the same kind of tactic in 1994 when during another mass migration, CIA operatives verified that Fidel was purposefully emptying Cuba’s jails and loading his prisoners onto boats headed for the United States. This was classic Castro. If anything else, through the years Castro had learned to play a bad hand well. Even though Cuba was a small island nation of just eight million people with a busted economy, Castro could never resist a good game of “gotcha!” and even though world powers such as the Soviet Union would rise and fall, feisty Fidel would not only continue to play the cards with which he was dealt, he would continue to play them well.
Like my used-to-be friend, this so-called "Revolutionary" was just another power-hungry politician wanna-be, who was also super "selfish" while he had been failing his people pushing them to stay away from him after all.
For a 1st edition, the book doesn’t exhibit many errors to be edited. The followings are all that I could find during the read.
(Kindle Ed., p. 36)
Doctors For Oil
Not a suitable sub-title. The author should've entitled the chapter more like "Cuban Internationalism" or something, and put the specific program as one of examples in lines within the chapter like he actually did in the Conclusion, not in this chapter...weird.
(Kindle Ed., p. 10)
...It seemed that the two fed off of each other, and as soon as one stopped speaking the other began almost exactly where the other left off.
This line disturbs the flow of the reading and better be removed.
Lastly, the book closes with a fine con-clos'/ -clus'ion. It is a good read, well-researched and pretty en-/ in-form'at-ive.
Postscript> I’d really like to point out that it’s the first time I see this series’ title typed correctly:
(Kindle Ed., loc., 2)
A Life from Beginning to End
As far as I have seen, all other books in the series got this wrong one instead: “A Life From Beginning to End” as though “from” is not a preposition like “to.”
The book really well-depicts a man with his selfish ambition who wanted to be remembered as a special leader ab’ove the people, not with or among the people.
(Kindle Ed., p. 11)
His sales pitch to them was always the same; he promised that if they helped to finance his operations, he would overthrow Batista and restore democracy to Cuba, and by getting rid of the corruption and cronyism finally fix the Cuban economy. By doing all of this, he promised, there would be good jobs and lives waiting for any of the exiles who supported him. But when Fidel himself became the supreme dictator of Cuba, none of these promises would be fulfilled, and many of these very same exiles would one day be fighting the man they had financed.
(Kindle Ed., p. 17)
In a show of false magnanimity, when Castro gained power he pretended to delegate the presidency of Cuba to a man named Manuel Urrutia Lleo. Some viewed this liberal Cuban lawyer as an odd pick, but he didn’t just drop into the presidency out of nowhere. Manuel had played a pivotal part in overthrowing the Batista government. It was Manuel after all, who had traveled to the United States during the conflict and managed to persuade high ranking U.S. officials to stop backing the Batista regime. Fidel also rightly viewed the elder lawyer’s credentials and less radical resume would be more acceptable to the United States than a guerrilla in the wilderness that they knew nothing about. Wanting to play it safe—at least at first—Fidel opted to select Manuel as a safeguard for his fragile revolution. Even so, the two men almost immediately had disagreements about what direction the country should be taken. Manuel, being a Christian and eschewing the moral decay of Cuba, immediately set out to shut down all the brothels and casinos. But when this drew public outcry from those who worked at these establishments, Fidel overruled the president and demanded that these businesses be left alone...
(Kindle Ed., p. 18)
...This effort at reform managed to break one of Fidel’s promises to the Cuban people. When Fidel first came to power he famously declared, “we will not seize any land from anybody.” Yet those agrarian reform laws that he immediately began to push authorized the confiscation of land from anyone who had more than one thousand acres...for those who had their life’s work and generations of wealth ripped away from them overnight on the notion of Fidel Castro, it was a terrible nightmare and the reality of what a communist regime would be like began to set in.
(Kindle Ed., p. 14)
...The U.S. was at first rather reluctant to take a side but then opted to cease and desist with all aid to the Batista regime. The ambivalent attitude of the State Department was to let the two men duke it out and see who would come out on top. But this was devastating enough for Batista, and as soon as the U.S. pulled the plug on all American arms shipments to the regime...
Really? After all that Castro openly talked about in media? Sigh...the US government was the reason for the rise of Castro at the end, just like the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan. The United States author’ity is, indeed, an’other group of ordinary people after all, and she is to decline like all other empires before her.
(Kindle Ed., p. 27)
...he derided Khrushchev as a leader with no “no cojones” or as we might say in English, “no testicular fortitude.” But in the end, with no one else to gather Cuba’s much-needed financial aid from, he had to let bygones be bygones, and fall back in line with his Soviet handlers.
Correction: ...he derided Khrushchev as a leader with “no cojones” or as we might say in English, “no testicular fortitude.” But in the end, with no one else to gather Cuba’s much-needed financial aid from, he had to let bygones be bygones, and fall back in line with his Soviet handlers.
What a big “empty” mouth, ha!
(Kindle Ed., pp. 36-37)
Fidel wanted what had happened in Cuba to be duplicated all over the world; in other words, he wished to export the Cuban Revolution as his most successful commodity. After embedding the first foco units into hotbeds all over Latin America, Fidel turned his attentions toward the African continent where he found power vacuums in which he intended to insert communist governments. As a result, in 1964, Castro began to send militias to the most remote corners of Africa. Castro’s first major foray in Africa was with the Algerians, in his tacit support for Ahmed Ben Bella’s socialist regime. Fidel sent Cuban military as well as medical personnel to aid Ben Bella’s cause. He also aligned himself with the emerging socialist scene in the Congo, the place where, in 1965, he sent the revolutionary evangelist Che Guevara to convert the masses. The exercise in the Congo, despite its fame, was ultimately a disaster, with Che unable to rally the recalcitrant Congolese enough to carry out a revolution. Dispirited and disheartened, Che would go back to the ongoing foco groups already established in South America where he would ultimately be hunted down and killed by Bolivian soldiers in 1967. Despite rumors that Castro had viewed Che Guevara as an unwelcome rival and purposefully sent Che to his death, Fidel seemed to be genuinely grieved by the loss of his friend. And with the death of Che, much of Castro’s vision of fomenting global revolution died as well. Instead of attempting to create a third rail out of third world countries, Castro turned his attentions back to the Soviet Union, expressing his solidarity in dramatic fashion on August 20, 1968, when he went on Cuban TV to announce his support for the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. This move seemed to contradict much of his rhetoric of previous years in which he attempted to present himself as the champion of smaller nations fending for their right of self-determination. But Castro rationalized that the invasion was necessary to prevent counter-revolutionary measures...
Sounds very personal to me. I'm not any big fan of the past Colonialism either, but it wasn't just the colonizers who caused the mess in so-called the "Third World," but also the “selfish” ego of individuals with local power in their hands like Fidel Castro.
Funny that one of my "used-to-be" closest friends from Tennessee (I shall not share his name in publ’ic) has always been the biggest fan of Fidel Castro.
Really funny that he has never been a laborer in the field himself, but he always talks about the laborers and revolution bitching about governments.
Yet, when he was drunk, he always showed his real color talking about how better he had been 'cause of his racial identity: A White.
I do not talk to him anymore since he’s always been a selfish jerk whenever it comes to his proud "union" works. For his beloved union, he frequently ditched his friends with business appointments (although it was always him who asked us for help, thus the appointments for him) as if nothing else was more important than his connections and affairs with the union.
I’ve shared many deep conversations with him for many, many years, and I always felt like his ideology was more like a “faith” of certain god and religion to him. He is always right, but others with different opinions are wrong. And why he thought he was entitled to bitch about all the dictators in our history without realizing he'd been acting like one, and for that reason people were leaving him.
I kept thinking of my old, used-to-be friend reading this book about the life of Fidel Castro.
(Kindle Ed., p. 39)
Rampant unemployment and shortages of even the most basic commodities led to a crisis and paved the way for the mass exodus of Cubans to the shores of Miami, Florida in what became known as the Mariel Boatlift of April 20, 1980...But unbeknownst to the Carter administration which presided over the affair, Castro had planted his own version of the Trojan horse among his fleeing dissidents by packing the boats with as many dangerous criminals and mentally ill patients that he could find. Bill Clinton would experience the same kind of tactic in 1994 when during another mass migration, CIA operatives verified that Fidel was purposefully emptying Cuba’s jails and loading his prisoners onto boats headed for the United States. This was classic Castro. If anything else, through the years Castro had learned to play a bad hand well. Even though Cuba was a small island nation of just eight million people with a busted economy, Castro could never resist a good game of “gotcha!” and even though world powers such as the Soviet Union would rise and fall, feisty Fidel would not only continue to play the cards with which he was dealt, he would continue to play them well.
Like my used-to-be friend, this so-called "Revolutionary" was just another power-hungry politician wanna-be, who was also super "selfish" while he had been failing his people pushing them to stay away from him after all.
For a 1st edition, the book doesn’t exhibit many errors to be edited. The followings are all that I could find during the read.
(Kindle Ed., p. 36)
Doctors For Oil
Not a suitable sub-title. The author should've entitled the chapter more like "Cuban Internationalism" or something, and put the specific program as one of examples in lines within the chapter like he actually did in the Conclusion, not in this chapter...weird.
(Kindle Ed., p. 10)
...It seemed that the two fed off of each other, and as soon as one stopped speaking the other began almost exactly where the other left off.
This line disturbs the flow of the reading and better be removed.
Lastly, the book closes with a fine con-clos'/ -clus'ion. It is a good read, well-researched and pretty en-/ in-form'at-ive.
Postscript> I’d really like to point out that it’s the first time I see this series’ title typed correctly:
(Kindle Ed., loc., 2)
A Life from Beginning to End
As far as I have seen, all other books in the series got this wrong one instead: “A Life From Beginning to End” as though “from” is not a preposition like “to.”
November 29, 2021
This is a story of someone who challenged the might of the US and got away with it. The narration is taut and keeps the reader engaged. Like every other book by Hourly History, it is more of statement of facts rather passing a judgement.
October 20, 2017
What an Interesting man
The Biography of Fidel Was Absolutely interesting and definitely interesting. I would encourage you to read this book and remember a man who can never be called a coward
The Biography of Fidel Was Absolutely interesting and definitely interesting. I would encourage you to read this book and remember a man who can never be called a coward
March 14, 2018
If you are looking for a quick overview of Castro this book will suffice nicely.
It needs a bit of editing for grammar. I learned that Castro was very involved in world-wide revolutions; not personally, but as a dictator sending troops and support.
It needs a bit of editing for grammar. I learned that Castro was very involved in world-wide revolutions; not personally, but as a dictator sending troops and support.
October 13, 2017
I must admit that I had very little knowledge of Fidel Castro’s life before he to the role of the Cuban leader that would dare to stand against a larger and much more powerful neighbor; the United States of America. Born on August 13, 1926, into a wealthy and influential family, Fidel showed signs of having a revolutionary spirit at an early age. Before graduating college with a degree in law, Fidel took part in a couple of Latin American political uprisings. His first revolutionary attempts were failures but nevertheless an important chapter leading to his ultimate success.
If revolutionary tenacity could be graded, Fidel Castro would earn a gold star. His revolutionary forces finally defeated the United States backed dictator, General Fulgencio Batista, and Castro was hailed the hero of the revolution. As the new leader of a small island nation in the shadow of the greatest economic and political powerhouse in the world, few options were open for trade, support, and aid. The archenemy of the United States and the capitalistic west, the Soviet Union, was a made to order candidate. Much has been written about the tumultuous 60’s, with the failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis that soon followed. Throughout this time and for the following sixty years, Cuba has remained steadfast as a beacon (or ulcer for the United States) of revolution.
You can applaud or condemn the actions of Castro. You can support or oppose his vision of government. If you study his life and accomplishments, you will undoubtedly admire his tenacity and steadfast focus on his goals in the face of an ever-changing political and economic world and against all odds. Castro died on November 25, 2016, less than eleven months ago. His legacy is now in question. Only time will tell what political, social, and economical road Cuba will follow once the reins of power pass from the Castro family.
If revolutionary tenacity could be graded, Fidel Castro would earn a gold star. His revolutionary forces finally defeated the United States backed dictator, General Fulgencio Batista, and Castro was hailed the hero of the revolution. As the new leader of a small island nation in the shadow of the greatest economic and political powerhouse in the world, few options were open for trade, support, and aid. The archenemy of the United States and the capitalistic west, the Soviet Union, was a made to order candidate. Much has been written about the tumultuous 60’s, with the failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis that soon followed. Throughout this time and for the following sixty years, Cuba has remained steadfast as a beacon (or ulcer for the United States) of revolution.
You can applaud or condemn the actions of Castro. You can support or oppose his vision of government. If you study his life and accomplishments, you will undoubtedly admire his tenacity and steadfast focus on his goals in the face of an ever-changing political and economic world and against all odds. Castro died on November 25, 2016, less than eleven months ago. His legacy is now in question. Only time will tell what political, social, and economical road Cuba will follow once the reins of power pass from the Castro family.
October 29, 2020
Probably over simplistic but good none the less. He forgot to mention the blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
When Fidel passes a way I couldn’t help but laugh, he survived all those attempts on his life and lived to a old age, while all those who tried to kill you had been long gone. Karma?
When Fidel passes a way I couldn’t help but laugh, he survived all those attempts on his life and lived to a old age, while all those who tried to kill you had been long gone. Karma?
January 3, 2018
Good but not great
I was truly looking forward to this one but was left disappointed. Spelling and grammatical errors, omitting of certain facts. Sad stuff if you are writing about history.
I was truly looking forward to this one but was left disappointed. Spelling and grammatical errors, omitting of certain facts. Sad stuff if you are writing about history.
December 4, 2020
This book provided a fairly complete, yet concise overview of a rather common person, who ended up having a profound influence on his country, as well as the world (vis-a-vis: USA, USSR) . Perhaps it is wishful thinking, but I cannot help but wonder how different and perhaps how magnificent that island country could have been without the radical, violent, and bloody revolution of Fidel and his followers. He could have been easily eliminated (executed) before he ever usurped the leadership of the country. I can imagine an island paradise, frequented by well-to-do American tourists, while reaping rich rewards for its native people.
June 12, 2021
Very interesting
Like all books from this publisher its well researched. Castro was boogeyman to we boomers. I can still remember watching Kennedy on tv showing pictures of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The book does a good job of explaining his true to power.
Like all books from this publisher its well researched. Castro was boogeyman to we boomers. I can still remember watching Kennedy on tv showing pictures of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The book does a good job of explaining his true to power.
Read
June 19, 2021As ever your books are very informative and much appreciated, my only comment on this one is no mention of Fidel's very important ventures in Angola. Not mention the subsequent and poor performance against the South Africans of the day.
September 15, 2019
Presidente Corismo
I grew up during the 60s and the Kennedy presidency was my first political awareness. It was an interesting read filling in the gaps.
I grew up during the 60s and the Kennedy presidency was my first political awareness. It was an interesting read filling in the gaps.
September 20, 2019
A nice summary
A very nice summary on one of the most controversial figured in the recent history. The stories sound very well researched.
A very nice summary on one of the most controversial figured in the recent history. The stories sound very well researched.
October 27, 2019
This is a good overview of Castro’s life. It is in need of editing and is riddled with spelling and grammar errors.
December 5, 2020
But does justice to the towering personality.
June 4, 2021
A tad short, but helpful to get a quick overview of Cuban history and Castro's life.
February 28, 2022
Nothing new here
While a interesting read you will not find anything that you already knew about Castro , wish more time was spent on his effect on everyday Cuba.
While a interesting read you will not find anything that you already knew about Castro , wish more time was spent on his effect on everyday Cuba.
April 3, 2019
After reading Hourly History's COLD WAR, it seemed only natural to read FIDEL CASTRO. As a baby boomer (born in 1947), I well remember JFK and Khrushchev going toe-to-toe in a way that appeared would bring us beyond the brink of nuclear war. By virtue of the fact that I am sitting here writing this review says the disaster was averted.
Many of us tend to associate Castro with two things. The first is, of course, the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion and the second is the Cuban Missile Crisis. There is much more to Fidel Castro than the revolutionary. He was a well-educated lawyer who essentially wanted the best for the people of Cuba. I see parallels between Castro's history with that of Ho Chi Minh. Neither of them started out as Communists, yet neither could garner support from the United States to the benefit of their nation. US alliances drove both of these men into the open arms of Communism. I took a political science class, at the College of the City of New York (CCNY), back in the early 70s, where one of the required books was THE COLD WAR AS HISTORY, by Louis Halle. It was an eye-opener then and the Cold War wasn't even over.
It is impossible to know everything about history and the people who helped make it. With the advent of Hourly History's creation of short reads on specific people, places and events, it is possible to put the past into better perspective.
Many of us tend to associate Castro with two things. The first is, of course, the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion and the second is the Cuban Missile Crisis. There is much more to Fidel Castro than the revolutionary. He was a well-educated lawyer who essentially wanted the best for the people of Cuba. I see parallels between Castro's history with that of Ho Chi Minh. Neither of them started out as Communists, yet neither could garner support from the United States to the benefit of their nation. US alliances drove both of these men into the open arms of Communism. I took a political science class, at the College of the City of New York (CCNY), back in the early 70s, where one of the required books was THE COLD WAR AS HISTORY, by Louis Halle. It was an eye-opener then and the Cold War wasn't even over.
It is impossible to know everything about history and the people who helped make it. With the advent of Hourly History's creation of short reads on specific people, places and events, it is possible to put the past into better perspective.
November 18, 2019
Incidentall hero not with great mind.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews