Anderson, Jon Lee.
Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. New York: Grove, 1997. Anderson, Jon Lee.
Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. New York: Grove, 1997.
Chapman, IJI&C 10.3, finds much to like in this biography, even though the author's portrayal of the Cuban revolution "is so exclusively from Cuban and pro-Cuban sources." The reviewer was involved with Castro's revolutionaries before they gained power, but it took reading Anderson's book to realize finally "what a mean bastard" Che really was.
The reviewer disagrees with Anderson on a number of points. Among the disagreements is the author's depiction of Che's mother as little more than "a Latina hausfrau"; Chapman recalls her membership in the Argentine Communist Party and speculates that it was from her that Che received his communist indoctrination. Nor does Anderson seem aware that Che's brother, Roberto, was a "bigtime spook" in the Cuban intelligence service (DGI).
Chapman's story of Che's final hours also differs from Anderson's. Chapman cites as his source a Cuban who had accompanied Felix Rodriguez to Bolivia and who spoke to Che immediately prior to his execution by his Bolivian captors.
Another point of disagreement is Anderson's claim that the CIA covertly funded Castro in Santiago. Chapman labels that claim "nonsense," stating "That's me in Santiago who would've done it, and I didn't do it."
Ayers,
Bradley E. The War That Never Was: An Insider's Account of CIA Covert Operations against Cuba. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1976.
Petersen: "Army officer assigned to the CIA to train guerrillas."
Bender, Bryan. "DIA
Expresses Concern over Cuban Intelligence Activity." Jane's Defence
Weekly, 13 May 1998, 7.
Benjamin,
Jules R. The United States and the Origins of the Cuban Revolution: An Empire of Liberty in an Age of National Revolution. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990.
Bohning, Don. The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations in Cuba. Dulles, VA: Potomac, 2005.
According to DKR, AFIO WIN 48-05 (12 Dec. 2005), this book by the Miami Herald's Latin America editor "provides new insights into the covert war against Cuba.... [T]he Bay of Pigs ... failure did not end attempts to change the Havana regime." Efforts included "economic and political destabilization, propaganda, sabotage and assassination plots." The author "considers that the result was to increase Castro’s international celebrity, provide an excuse for more repression in Cuba and contribute to the Soviet decision to introduce nuclear missiles into the island with the resulting ... crisis."
Latell, Studies 49.4 (2005), calls this work "an excellent and much needed illumination ... of all the strange and counterproductive American covert schemes that Castro has survived." The author "is balanced and nuanced," and "does a good job of showing how skeptical and reluctant most senior operations officers involved in MONGOOSE in fact were as they obediently carried out the administration's designs."
For Gambone, I&NS 20.4 (Dec. 2004), the book is "well-paced, insightful, and often fascinating." The author has provided "an additional an[d] important layer to the history of the Cold War in Latin America." Chapman, IJI&C 19.2 (Summer 2006), calls this "one thought-provoking book." Huck, Periscope (Summer 2006), finds that The Castro Obsession "is flush with new sources. It is well worth buying, reading, keeping, and studying."
Branch,
Taylor, and George Crile III. "Kennedy Vendetta: How the CIA Waged
a Silent War Against Cuba." Harper's, Aug. 1975, 49-63. [Petersen]
Breuer, William
B. Vendetta: Castro and the Kennedy Years. New York: Wiley, 1998.
From advertisement: "Details the clandestine warfare that took place between Cuba and the Uited States in the early 1960s.... The work exposes the covert and sometimes illegal efforts of the Kennedys to oust Castro."
Castro
Hidalgo, Orlando. Spy for Fidel. Miami, FL: E.A. Seemann, 1971.
Pforzheimer says Castro Hidalgo was a high-ranking Cuban intelligence officer (DGI) who defected in 1969, and calls Spy for Fidel a "useful book on the Cuban service."
According to Constantinides, Castro Hidalgo "provides first-hand information on the DGI's organization, training, personnel, modus operandi, and targets." However, the author "could have been more specific on dates of events and could have elaborated more on many events."
Della-Giustina,
John E. [CAPT/USA] "Intelligence in Peace Operations: The MID in Cuba,
1906-1909." Military Intelligence 20, no. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1994):
18-22.
Military Intelligence Division support to the Army of Cuban Pacification (ACP) during the Second Intervention in Cuba.
Duffy,
Gloria. "Crisis Mangling and the Cuban Brigade." International
Security 8, no. 1 (1983): 67-87. [Petersen]
Duffy,
Gloria. "Crisis Prevention in Cuba." In Managing U.S.-Soviet
Rivalry, ed. Alexander George. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1983.
Petersen: Soviet aircraft and troops in Cuba, 1978-1979.
Epstein, Edward Jay.
"The Plots to Kill Castro." George 5, no. 5 (Jun. 2000):
60-63ff.
The author notes that this article is based "almost entirely on the documentation in the Church Committee report."
Escalante Font, Fabian,
and Mirta Muniz. The Secret War: CIA Covert Operations Against Cuba 1959-62. [U.S.]: Ocean Press, 1995.
Falk,
Richard A. "American Intervention in Cuba and the Rule of Law."
Ohio State Law Journal 22 (Summer 1961): 546-585.
Petersen: "Critical of U.S. policy."
Freedman, Lawrence. Kennedy's Wars: Berlin, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Roberge, I&NS 17.4, calls this "the most insightful work yet produced on US national security policy during the early 1960s." However, the author's "detached style takes some of the drama out of the story."
Gertz,
Bill. "Nominee for Envoy Bowed Out After Reports of Link to Cuba."
Washington Times, 25 Jan. 1999. "Envoy Nominee Quietly Bowed
Out." Washington Times National Weekly Edition, 1-7 Feb. 1999,
14.
Mari Carmen Aponte, "President Clinton's nominee for ambassador to the Dominican Republic[,] quietly withdrew last fall amid questions about a Cuban intelligence scheme to recruit her as a spy within the White House." Aponte worked "as a volunteer in the White House Personnel Office in November 1993."
Gleijeses, Piero. Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Schwab, Perspectives on Politics 1.2, calls this work "a superb study of the intersection of U.S., Soviet, and Cuban political, diplomatic, and military strategy in Africa during the height of the Cold War. Conflicting Missions is dazzlingly researched, and ... so beautifully crafted and thorough that it is mesmerizing." The author "makes the argument that decisions regarding Cuban military activity in Africa were fashioned almost entirely independent of Moscow. Indeed, the USSR was often informed only after the fact."
For Berger, I&NS 19.1, this work "is a masterful analysis of Cuban involvement in Africa.... It will no doubt stand for many years as the definitive study of Cold War diplomacy in southern Africa."
Waters, H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews, Jul. 2002 [http://www.h-net.org], finds that "[t]he bibliography and footnotes in Conflicting Missions are comprehensive, the maps well placed and useful, the photos informative with long and descriptive captions, and the index thorough. Gleijeses writes beautifully, and his judgments are measured and fair. Every chapter begins with a short paragraph that is a hard jewel of concision and elegance."
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