Those that admire and stand in solidarity with the Cuban Revolution will not find any measure of satisfaction here.  When I read the promotional blurb, I noticed that this account was written by a Rolling Stone Magazine journalist, and that it was written soon after President Obama opened relations between the US and Cuba. I thank Net Galley for permitting me to read a review copy free of charge, but that cannot diminish my disappointment and irritation (thus one star) at the patronizing, reactionary vantage from which Symmes writes. 

Has no one noticed that even the United Nations has recognized that Cuba is the only nation in Latin America and the Caribbean to eradicate malnutrition? And has nobody noticed that when Fidel died, the revolution didn’t die with him? 

Most nations do not offer visiting heads of state a forum and opportunity to locate and meet with the disgruntled fringe citizens that might be open to overthrowing the government of the host nation. Symmes’ punch line here seemed to be that by Obama cutting his trip short, he was somehow making the Cuban Revolution ‘irrelevant’. 

Do the other nations of Latin America and the Caribbean see it thus? Has Africa adopted this stance? I didn’t think so. It is only possible to see the Cuba in that light if one filters world news through the view of international business conglomerates and the U.S. government.  Happily, there are independent thinkers here that can appreciate the contributions made by Cuba in ending hunger and oppression in that country and making medical advances from which the whole world benefits. 

This book is a waste of ink, and a waste of space in one’s digital library.

This was an interesting book about how Fidel Castro came to power, the Castro era and what has happened since Fidel's death. I have to say I expected something a bit less biased, but it still sounded mostly unbiaised and fair in its obversations, even though the author seems to have mostly talked to dissidents. I still really liked this book and thought it was an interesting view into such a controversional country.

It is a very short history about Fidel Castro’s reign over Cuba since 1959. It’s a short enough book to whet one’s appetite for a  short history of Cuba. It level me wanting to know so much more.

From the publisher - Cuba has loomed large in American memory and history. Throughout the last half-century, the island and its larger-than-life revolutionary leader have been key players in the Cold War and mythologized by Americans and American politicians. In 2016, relations thawed, and the country opened its doors to American. The Rolling Stones played in Havana. President Obama arrived too in March. He was the first President to visit the nation almost 100 years—since Coolidge in 1928. And then Fidel Castro passed away in November 2016, marking the end of the momentous era in Cuban history.  Patrick Symmes interweaves reporting from years spent traveling to the Cuban Island, a narrative history of the rise of Fidelismo and the last sixty-plus years of life there under Fidel. Symmes’ exploration of the Castros’ Cuba—how it came to be and what it’s becoming—paints a wondrous and striking portrait of the nation, its culture, politics, and people for anyone first undertaking a trip or those still dreaming of doing so. 

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review -- sorry for what follows.

I did not finish the book. I did not see the librarian's point of "any book". as I learned nothing new nor have any desire to get caught up in the story. --- it was like ramblings after a day at the pub.