The Ultimate Fidel Castro Book

For over 50 years, Fidel Castro was the ruler of a relatively insignificant island in the Caribbean – but for three decades a protagonist in the world-wide power struggle of the Cold War. Under the very nose of Uncle Sam he built – financed and painstakingly controlled by his Soviet sugardaddy – a distinctly personal, erratic brand of communism, entirely centered around its Líder máximo. A supporter of revolution everywhere, he stirred up guerrilla movements throughout the Third World; most of them collapsed, but some left a heroic, still virulent legend behind. Fidel’s magnetic personality captivated Western intellectuals; their enthusiasm evaporated as Cuban writers (and gays) ended up in labor camps. In 1962, when Soviet missiles threatened the U.S. heartland from Cuban soil, the world was brought to the brink of nuclear war. Reporter Carlos Widmann first got to know El Comandante en Jefe in 1969, and few Western journalists have been able to observe him at close quarters over such a long time.