Contesting Castro
Contesting Castro: the United States and the triumph of the Cuban Revolution Thomas G. Paterson,
Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 1995.
ISBN: 0195101200
DDC: 327.7307291
LCC: E183.8
Edition: (pbk.)
Summary:
"Today they stand as enemies, but in the 1950s, few countries were as
closely intertwined as Cuba and the United States. Thousands of
Americans (including Ernest Hemingway and Errol Flynn) lived on the
island, and, in the United States, dancehalls swayed to the mambo
beat. The strong-arm Batista regime depended on Washington's support,
and it invited American gangsters like Meyer Lansky to build fancy
casinos for U.S. tourists. Major league scouts searched for Cuban
talent: The New York Giants even offered a contract to a young
pitcher named Fidel Castro. In 1955, Castro did come to the United
States, but not for baseball: He toured the country to raise money
for a revolution." "Thomas Paterson tells the fascinating story of
Castro's insurrection, from that early fund-raising trip to Batista's
fall and the flowering of the Cuban Revolution that has bedeviled the
United States for more than three decades. With evocative prose and a
swift-moving narrative, Paterson recreates the love-hate relationship
between the two nations, then traces the intrigue of the insurgency,
the unfolding revolution, and the sources of the Bay of Pigs
invasion, CIA assassination plots, and the missile crisis. The drama
ranges from Havana blackjack tables to Miami streets; from the
crowded deck of the Granma, the frail boat that carried the
Fidelistas to Cuba from Mexico, to the Eisenhower and Kennedy White
Houses; from Batista's fortified palace to mountain hideouts where
Raul Castro held Americans hostage. Drawing upon impressive
international research, including recently declassified documents and
interviews, Paterson reveals how Washington, fixed on the issue of
Communism, failed to grasp the widespread disaffection from Batista.
The Eisenhower administration alienated Cubans by supplying arms to a
hated regime, by sustaining Cuba's economic dependency, and by
publicly backing Batista. As Batista self-destructed, U.S. officials
launched third-force conspiracies in a vain attempt to block Castro's
victory. By the time the defiant revolutionary leader entered Havana
in early 1959, the foundation of the long, bitter hostility between
Cuba and the United States had been firmly laid." "Since the end of
the Cold War, the futures of Communist Cuba and Fidel Castro have
become clouded. Paterson's gripping and timely account explores the
origins of America's troubled relationship with its island neighbor
and explains what went wrong and how the United States "let this one
get away." Because the paths to the future necessarily cross those of
the past, Paterson's timely study provides the context for
understanding changes in U.S.-Cuba relations today."--BOOK JACKET.
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