Guerrilla prince Book

An excellent and easy to read biography of Fidel Castro: from his childhood to his rise to power in Cuba and the world stage. Geyer's analysis of the Castro persona is impressive. This book truly tells the real dictatorial, micromanaging, and egocentric personality of Fidel Castro, putting him up there with other dictators like Stalin, Mao and Kim Jong il. Many little known facts about the Cuban dictator are shown throughout the book, such as: Castro's attempt on the life of Leonel Gomez during his days as a student at the University of Havana, and his initial acts of supporting subversion in Panama and the Dominican Republic in 1959, starting his long career as a troublemaker in the Americas. She goes into the trial and harsh punishment of Camaguey province commander Hubert Matos (got 20 years for resigning his post as a protest for communist infiltration) and the mysterious disappearance of legendary commander Camilo Cienfuegos in late 1959. Geyer displays a clever analysis of Castro restructuring of the communist party to his own ends: total power in Cuba and the support of the Soviet Union. Most interesting is her analysis of the close relationship between the two Spanish Caudillos (Castro and Franco), their love of military tactics and strategy, and their shared hatred of the U.S. Her coverage of Castro's adventurism in other countries is comprehensive, from his sponsorship and training of thousands of foreign Marxist guerrillas and subversives in Cuba (which continues to this day) to his orchestration of communist takeovers in Angola and Nicaragua. Geyer's biography is a unique insight into the life of the man who will hopefully be the last Maoist Stalinist dictator in the Americas. As a matter of fact, this book by Geyer is recommended in my own book about Memories from the Land of the Intolerant Tyrant (available from Blue Note Books) as one of the best about Fidel Castro Castro and the Cuban Revolution.