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Greenwood Biographies
Fidel Castro: A Biography
Fidel Castro has ruled Cuba for over 40 years, yet he remains one of the world's most complex leaders. Rebellious at an early age, he attemped to organize a strike of sugar workers against his father as a teenager. By his early twenties, he made it clear that he was an opponent of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista and wanted a social change for Cuba. His leadership of the successful revolution in 1959 led him to political power behind the support of the Cuban people. For decades critics have predicted his fall from power, but he remains the uncontested leader.
Castro's life and career are described in this biography, including his childhood, family, education, and political endeavors. Readers will learn of his attendance at Havana Law School, his imprisonment, his rise to political power, along with history topics and events such as communism, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the Cuban missile crisis. A timeline provides a comprehensive list of important events in his life, and a bibliography covers print and electronic sources for further research.
Castro's life and career are described in this biography, including his childhood, family, education, and political endeavors. Readers will learn of his attendance at Havana Law School, his imprisonment, his rise to political power, along with history topics and events such as communism, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the Cuban missile crisis. A timeline provides a comprehensive list of important events in his life, and a bibliography covers print and electronic sources for further research.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
20 people want to read
About the author
Thomas M. Leonard
28 booksThomas M. Leonard is a professor of history emeritus at the University of North Florida.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 3, 2012
'Fidel Castro' is one of a series of biographies published through the Greenwood Press. A series that includes such diverse characters as The Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul II, George S. Patton and Colin Powell, J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien, Billy Graham and Al Capone. These Greenwood biographies are tailored for high school students who need challenging yet accessible biographies.
In just one hundred and thirty pages Castro's life is crammed, from 1926 to 2002 (book published in 2004). The weird beard has led Cuba on it's Marxist/Leninist revolutionary debacle since 1959 and this book follows the decades of obfuscation in relations with the U.S. From Eisenhower to George W. Bush the presidencies have come and gone with the man in Havana as stubborn as ever. As short as this book is, I found the agrarian reform programmes and the annual projected sugar harvests tough going.
The author Thomas M. Leonard is Professor of History at the University of North Florida, and as such should know that Kennedy's assassination in Dallas was not November 23rd 1963!
In just one hundred and thirty pages Castro's life is crammed, from 1926 to 2002 (book published in 2004). The weird beard has led Cuba on it's Marxist/Leninist revolutionary debacle since 1959 and this book follows the decades of obfuscation in relations with the U.S. From Eisenhower to George W. Bush the presidencies have come and gone with the man in Havana as stubborn as ever. As short as this book is, I found the agrarian reform programmes and the annual projected sugar harvests tough going.
The author Thomas M. Leonard is Professor of History at the University of North Florida, and as such should know that Kennedy's assassination in Dallas was not November 23rd 1963!
Displaying 1 of 1 review