Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground

Rating:
Summary: A big disapointment...
Review: I was disappointed with the research presented by the author. The argument presented by the author seems to be an orchestrated initiative by the Castro dictatorship to exonerate Castro of any responsibility for the killing of many leading anti-Batista revolutionaries that were sacrificed to eliminate any potential leader that could challenge Castro's communist design for Cuba. It is significant that the author is so close to the leaders of the current leadership and that some of the arguments that she presents are also presented, word-by-word, by Enrique Oltuski on his Vida Clandestina. Overall, this book is a waste of money and your time.

Rating:
Summary: A Truly Revolutionary Glimpse Inside Revolution
Review: Julia Sweig, as a young grad student, traveled to Cuba and was given access to documents that no journalists, no academics, and no outsiders had ever been allowed to study. Meanwhile she obtained interviews with many of the most influential members of the 26th of July Movement and other revolutionary groups. With this information, Sweig compiled a book that is no less than revolutionary.

The writing format is well-planned and easy to read, though a certain forehand knowledge of the Cuban Revolution is expected. Much of the history is based around hundreds of letters sent by M267 members within the organtization and to other members of the Civic Resistance. This is not an A-Z history of the Cuban Revolution. True to its name, this is the most profound INSIDE look at the Cuban Revolution that I've seen in my many years of studying Cuba.

Rating:
Summary: A Truly Revolutionary Glimpse Inside Revolution
Review: Julia Sweig, as a young grad student, traveled to Cuba and was given access to documents that no journalists, no academics, and no outsiders had ever been allowed to study. Meanwhile she obtained interviews with many of the most influential members of the 26th of July Movement and other revolutionary groups. With this information, Sweig compiled a book that is no less than revolutionary.

The writing format is well-planned and easy to read, though a certain forehand knowledge of the Cuban Revolution is expected. Much of the history is based around hundreds of letters sent by M267 members within the organtization and to other members of the Civic Resistance. This is not an A-Z history of the Cuban Revolution. True to its name, this is the most profound INSIDE look at the Cuban Revolution that I've seen in my many years of studying Cuba.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best history books of the past 20 years
Review: My history professor at Princeton, where I'm a graduate student, raved about this book and called it one of the best books she's read in the past 20 years. I agree. I was blown away by Dr. Sweig's research and compelling narrative. Regardless of what you think of Castro - and I deeply oppose his totalitarian regime - you will learn things about the Cuban Revolution you never knew before. I can't understand some of the reviews below, and quite frankly I question them as coming from people with ideological axes to grind. I find that totally puzzling. The book is written with ZERO bias. It is a right-down-the-middle historical analysis that is fair to both sides in the Cuban debate... and believe me, I was looking for bias from the author, Dr. Sweig. Again, I am as staunchly anti-Castro as they come. I totally agree with the rave reviews of this book by people like Arthur Schlesinger and Ted Sorenson. It's a must read!

Rating:
Summary: Factual and Interesting
Review: The author of this book certainly knows Cuba well and has been a strong advocate for constructive engagement with the Cuban regime for quite some time now which is commendable. Nonetheless her complete lack of objectivitity and intellectual honesty are evident from page one. In essence she is much too close to the subject matter and therefore compromised to offer anything credible on the topic. She is also excessively emotional in her obsession with all things Castro. The author once had the audacity to say that the only thing Castro wants before he dies is to be able to feed his people. What a farce! Anyone who wants to get "Inside the Cuban Revolution" should visit the island and not waste their money on this worthless propaganda.

Rating:
Summary: Very informative - that's why they don't like it!
Review: This book, the best single book I've read explaining the Cuban revolution -- its roots and the people at its vanguard -- serves both the general interest reader and the regional specialist. It is extraordinarily illuminating and required reading for anyone who wants to understand both the Cuban revolution and its long-term consequences for American policy and hemispheric stability. A must-read for anyone who wants to visit Cuba or understand the tortured, 40-year relationship between Washington and Havana. As a Cuban exile who has long sought an unbiased understanding of my people's history -- and who has read every book there is to find, in Spanish and English -- on the subject of the revolution -- I commend Julia Swieg for her research and her unique story-telling ability.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to read but interesting
Review: This is not an easy book to read. It is as if the author had taken her thesis and expanded it into a book, which is exactly what she did.

The book does seem to affirm the importance of the true martyrs of the Cuban Revolution, those fighting Batista in the cities - the "llano" revolutionaries, which have been somewhat pushed aside in Cuban mythology by the exaggerated myth of the Sierra fighters developed by Che Guevara after the Revolution.

While the book does affirm and establishes the immense contributions of all the other groups and people fighting the Batista dictatorship, it seems to me that it fails to answer the same question that it raises: WHY did Castro and his band diminish their contributions?, why did they splinter their unions? It was of course the threat of potential "other than Castro and his group" heroes sharing in the victory and challenging Castro's caudillismo and eventual brutal dictatorship.

And I wondered what would have happened had Frank Pais not been murdered by Batistianos?

And the answer, of course, is that he would have suffered the same fate later on in Castro's hands as countless other Cuban martyrs, who were not Communist, did.

The book is well researched, and Sweig has obviously had a lot of access to the Cuban regime's doctored archives. It is because of this access that perhaps she is somewhat soft on her evaluation of Castro and his motives. Nonetheless, regardless of this bias and some apparent historical errors here and there, it remains an interesting, if somewhat hard to read, window on a part of the Cuban Revolution that has been diminished by the regime.