The Cuban Revolution: Castro, Che, and the Guerrilla War That Defied America

On New Year's Day 1959, a ragged guerrilla army descended from the mountains of eastern Cuba and entered Havana to the jubilation of hundreds of thousands. Led by the charismatic Fidel Castro and inspired by the example of the Argentine doctor Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, the Cuban Revolution was one of the defining political events of the twentieth century: the first successful socialist revolution in the Western Hemisphere and an event that would shape Latin American history, American foreign policy, and the imagination of a generation. The Cuban Revolution: Castro, Che, and the Guerrilla War That Defied America tells the complete story of this extraordinary episode: from the desperate attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953 and the disastrous Granma landing of 1956 through the twenty-five months of guerrilla warfare in the Sierra Maestra, the collapse of Batista's army, and the transformation of the island that followed. This book examines the personalities of Castro and Guevara, the social grievances that made the revolution possible, the American policies that helped radicalize it, and the enormous cost — in freedom, prosperity, and human lives — that Cuba has paid for its revolutionary choice. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how a small island in the Caribbean became one of the great fault lines of modern history.