SIN MIEDO: LECCIONES de REBELDES (en español) by Jorge Ramos)

Published by Celebra in 2016.

In Sin Miedo: Lecciones de Rebeldes, Jorge Ramos brings us stories of people that he has interviewed over the years that he considers to be rebels with lessons to offer to all of us.

The title can be translated as Fearless: Lessons from Rebels. Some really are literal rebels, some are rebels that became dictators (he has 4 of these), and some are people that really aren't rebels, but are very successful in areas where people like them are not normally successful.

If you don't know who Jorge Ramos is, you probably don't watch Univision TV very much. Univision is a Spanish language channel based in Miami and Ramos is their most recognizable news anchor. 

The interviewees range all over the place, including Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Fidel Castro, Barbara Walters, George W. Bush, Daniel Ortega, former Presidents of Mexico, two Venezuelan dictators, a Mexican revolutionary leader, Spike Lee, and Richard Branson.

Some of the interviews are pretty compelling with lots of details. Some are skimpy, but fleshed out with some background research (you couldn't really corner Fidel Castro and pressure him to give you a long interview so you make do with the time you were given.)

The result was a mixed bag. I was touched by the patriotism of Venezuelan refugees that kept on fighting the Chavez/Maduro dictatorships in the face of overwhelming obstacles, but the interview with Bill Gates was standard boiler plate profile of his admirable work to fight disease in the Third World.

I skipped the dual interviews with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a Palestine Authority leader, figuring that anything said in that interview was superseded by the October 7 Attack and the Gaza War that followed.

The edition I read was in Spanish. It's been a few years since I read a book in Spanish. The last one was also a Jorge Ramos book. I enjoy his clear, concise style. I guess that makes Ramos my favorite Spanish language author! The English translation of this book is called Take a Stand: Lessons from Rebels.

I rate this collection of interviews 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Sin Miedo Lecciones de Rebeldes by Jorge Ramos.

THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS: A HISTORY from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

 

Published in 2018 by Hourly History.

Hourly History is a publisher that specializes in short histories and biographies in e-book form that are designed to be read in about an hour.

Sometimes, an hour is not long enough to explain a topic, but in this case an hour is just about right.

Since the Cuban Missile Crisis is a pretty well known historical event, just let me say that this short e-book delivers a concise, well-paced history. It also manages to present a balanced history that spreads the blame for the crisis and somehow keep up a sense of tension even though the reader knows for a fact that the Cuban Missile Crisis did not actually cause a worldwide global thermonuclear war in 1962.

I rate this e-book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS: A HISTORY from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History.

CHE: A REVOLUTIONARY LIFE (graphic novel) by Jon Lee Anderson (author) and Jose Hernandez (illustrator)

Originally published in 2016.

English translation published

in 2018 by Penguin Press.

Before reading this massive 421 page graphic novel, I knew relatively little about Che Guevara (1928-1967.) I knew that he was from South America, he was famous for his part in the Cuban Revolution and that he died trying to lead a revolution in Bolivia. And, of course, I knew him from the famous picture.

This graphic novel filled in a lot of blanks for me. It is a friendly biography of Che but doesn't glorify him. When I got to the end I was struck by how much of a failure Che actually was after he left Cuba. He tried to replicate the success of the Cuban Revolution but he could not. It's hard to tell if counter-revolutionary measures from the governments he was trying to overthrow (and the U.S.) were simply more successful than Batista had been in Cuba or if they were missing an additional spark like the Castro brothers had provided.

The graphic novel was put together well. It had no confusing arrangements of comic panels (this is more common of a problem than one might think) and the story was told in a straightforward linear manner. 

Well done.

I rate this graphic novel 5 stars out of 5. 

This can be found on Amazon.com here: CHE: A REVOLUTIONARY LIFE (graphic novel) by Jon Lee Anderson (author) and Jose Hernandez (illustrator).

HAVANA QUEEN by James Bruno

What will happen to Cuba when the Castro brothers are gone?

Published in 2013.

James Bruno was a diplomat and a member of military intelligence. He served in Cuba during his career, a fact that makes his current offering pop with a realistic feel (and has irritated official Cuba since their official newspapers have attacked him for this book. See links in blog post here: link. )

Havana Queen features a Cuba dealing with the impending deaths of the Castro brothers. Considering that they have been the leaders of Cuba for more than half a century it would not be unreasonable to expect the transition to a post-Castro Cuba to be a rocky one.

The book works best when it features the unrest of the Cuban people due to their pent-up demands for food and even the simple the freedom to express themselves about the regime's ability to maintain the infrastructure of the country. The characters to arise from this part of the story - a young military officer, a blogger, a older war hero with new-found doubts, a loudmouthed rock star - those characters and their struggles against the regime work and are fascinating.

The Cuban regime is nervous and reacting badly, both at home and abroad. Brutal repression of protesters and a series of assassinations of spies who had been turned by the FBI (making them double agents who were feeding the Castro regime worthless or tainted information). Plus, the regime is selling information to other governments as it is pumping its own agents for anything that can distract America's focus away from Cuba while it transitions.

Che Guevara, Raul Castro and Fidel Castro

Nick Castillo is a Cuban-American FBI agent who is looking into these murders and is finding more connections to the Cuban regime than his superiors are willing to acknowledge. When he finds out that a prominent Cuban officer that he the Americans hope to turn is in danger from the Cuban government he flies to Cuba to warn him without knowledge of his superiors.

What Castillo finds is that this officer that the Americans hoped to turn was actually a plant - a fake to entice the Americans and he is captured. At this point we meet Larisa Montilla, Che Guevara's fictional half-American daughter and the heir to the Castro brothers. Montilla is unbelievably sexy and unbelievable deadly. She is the Havana Queen referred to by the title (it is actually a double entendre, there is also a former hotel that was converted into an apartment building that collapsed in the Prologue that goes by the same name. This leads to a lot of protests about how the regime is failing to provide the basics that it promised, such as housing).

Montilla takes an interest in Castillo and, for me, this is where a five star book stumbles and veers from gritty political thriller into something more indulgent and something akin to the spy parodies of the Austin Powers series. This new leader is into seriously kinky sex (Yet another supreme leader with yet another sexual fetish! This is straight of central casting for political thrillers.) and only Castillo has what she wants for reasons that were never clear to me. However, sadly for Castillo, Montilla still has him put on the firing squad.

Of course, at this point the book is just getting started...

Despite my dislike of the Montilla character, this is a solid book and is worth your time reading. On a very positive note,  this Spanish (and history) teacher is pleased to the note that the Spanish in the book is top notch (I have read too many books by world famous authors with horrid Spanish that any Spanish 1 student could have written better).

Note: I was sent a review copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Havana Queen by James Bruno.

Reviewed on December 24, 2013.

Cuba (Jake Grafton #7) (audiobook) by Stephen Coonts

Good thriller plot overcomes other issues

Originally published in 1999.
Read by Benjamin L. Darcie
Duration: 14 hours, 44 minutes
Unabridged

Just so you'll know, I am reviewing Cuba as an audiobook - I listened to it as an audiobook and as an audiobook it was pretty good, meaning that I never really wondered if there was something else on the radio that was better.

As to the plot - I found it to be especially interesting to have the book focus on the presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Cuba, considering our situations in Iran and North Korea and the famed search for WMD in Iraq. The descriptions of the power of these weapons and the reasons that tin-pot dictators and superpowers possess them was informative.

As always, Coonts writes wonderful action sequences. His characters are sometimes a bit stiff, especially with his American cabinet officials.

Quibbles I have with the book:

-Sometimes there's so much tech-speak that it bogs the story down. At times, Coonts seems more interested in showing us cool gadgets than moving the story along.

-Why is Rear Admiral Jake Grafton personally leading the invasion of a Cuban prison and checking out abandoned freighters with Toad Tarkington? 

-Why is Toad Tarkington leading military mission after military mission? 

Both Tpad and Grafton are in their 50s! Are there no Junior officers in his entire carrier group? Very Captain Kirk-ish. It seems to me that this would have been an excellent time to have passed the baton generationally and introduced the readers to a couple of new, young, enthusiastic officers who could do some of these rough and tumble adventures. 

Reviewed on September 10, 2004.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Cuba (Jake Grafton #7).