Fidel And Che

Che Guevara has been dead for more than forty years, and long ago renounced by Fidel Castro-and yet they are forever linked: their coming to prominence together captivated a generation. For many, their romantic struggle for freedom still resonates; for others, they simply represent the last of a dying breed of rebel warriors. Yet, while much has been written about them both, surprisingly little is known about their personalities, and even less about the 12 years of their unique and highly consequential relationship, during which they linked arms in one of the world's greatest revolutionary movements. Fidel and Che follows them on their dramatic journey from the safe houses of Mexico's political underground in the 1950s, where they began hatching their plan for revolution, to the theatre of war in the Cuban mountains, to the paneled offices of a new government (the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile crises happened on their watch), and to the eventual rupture of their friendship, as Che left Cuba to pursue his revolutionary dreams, only to be assassinated by the CIA in 1966. Reid-Henry also reveals the more personal world of their inner lives as friends, husbands, lovers, fathers. What began as an association of convenience became the most profound relationship of their lives. It shaped their political ambitions and their personal attitudes, compelling them further than either had previously dared imagine. But if their times inspired a revolutionary friendship, they also destroyed it, for the tragic irony was that the more historical circumstance bound them together, the more personal ambitions pulled them apart. At a momentous turning point in Cuban history, Simon Reid-Henry has crafted a fascinating and original chronicle of two of the most powerful personalities in recent memory.

Castro's own description of the historic political partnership that changed the face of Cuba and Latin America. He vividly portrays Che - the man, the revolutionary and the thinker - recounting in detail his last days with Che in Cuba and giving a frank assessment of the Bolivian mission.

"For me, it has always been hard to accept the idea that Che is dead. I dream of him often, that I have spoken to him, that he is alive." ? Fidel Castro The classic biography of one revolutionary by another. Fidel Castro writes with great candor and emotion about a historic revolutionary partnership that changed the face of Cuba and Latin America. Fidel creates a vivid portrait of Che Guevara ? revealing much about his own inimitable determination and character. This new edition of a unique political memoir includes Fidel's speech on the return of Che's remains to Cuba 30 years after his assassination in Bolivia in 1967, and provides a frank assessment of the Bolivian mission.

*Includes pictures of important people, places, and events. *Includes some of Che's and Castro's quotes about socialism, America, Revolution, and more. *Explains their relationship and their roles in the Cuban Revolution. *Includes a Bibliography of each man for further reading. "Men do not shape destiny. Destiny produces the man for the hour." - Fidel Castro, 1959. "The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall." - Che Guevara Fidel Castro is one of the most influential and controversial men of the last 50 years, equally revered and reviled by people across the globe. To the West, Castro has long been one of the prominent faces of Communism, and the main reason Cuba has been ostracized by many liberal democracies, particularly the United States. On the other hand, Castro has been admired by those who despised capitalism, and despite the fact the political platform Castro advocated has been almost universally repudiated and only maintains a weak hold even in Cuba, Castro's Marxist-leaning writings and speeches have influenced other leaders across the globe, from Hugo Chavez to Nelson Mandela. Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, known to the world as Che, has led two lives. In the first of these lives, the Argentine-born revolutionary was a remarkable and flawed doctor-turned-guerilla who left behind a highly controversial political legacy. In the second, he was - and is - first and foremost an image. Specifically, he is one particular image in which he appears as a wavy-haired, bearded young man with a beret and an intense gaze. The photograph, entitled Guerrillero Heroico and taken on March 5, 1960 by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda, is said to be the most reproduced image in the history of photography. Although Che's face, as captured by Korda, first achieved its global iconic status during the student revolts of the 1960s, it has subsequently reappeared again and again as a branding device for a wide array of products. Korda himself brought a copyright lawsuit against Smirnoff Vodka for using Guerillero Heroico in an advertising campaign, and since Korda's 2001 death his daughter has gone to court with several other companies. There is little market for the type of revolution that Che advocated and pursued, but the aura of rebellion that his image exudes still carries a notable sway. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara chronicles the lives, careers, and revolutions Castro and Che were involved in, while analyzing the controversies and legacies they left in their wake. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about Fidel and Che like you never have before.

Vintage U.S.-made cars on the streets of Havana provide a common representation of Cuba. Journalist Richard Schweid, who traveled throughout the island to research the story of motor vehicles in Cuba today and yesterday, gets behind the wheel and behind the stereotype in this colorful chronicle of cars, buses, and trucks. In his captivating, sometimes gritty, voice, Schweid blends previously untapped historical sources with his personal experiences, spinning a car-centered history of life on the island over the past century. Packard, Studebaker, Edsel, De Soto: cars long extinct in the United States can be seen at work every day on Cuba's streets. Havana and Santiago de Cuba today are home to some 60,000 North American cars, all dating back to at least 1959, the year the Cuban Revolution prevailed. Though hardly a new part has arrived in Cuba since 1960, the cars are still on the road, held together with mechanical ingenuity and willpower. Visiting car mechanics, tracking down records in dusty archives, and talking with car-crazy Cubans of all types, Schweid juxtaposes historic moments (Fidel Castro riding to the Bay of Pigs in an Oldsmobile) with the quotidian (a weary mother's two-cent bus ride home after a long day) and composes a rich, engaging picture of the Cuban people and their history. The narrative is complemented by fifty-two historic black-and-white photographs and eight color photographs by contemporary Cuban photographer Adalberto Roque.

By the time he was killed in the jungles of Bolivia, where his body was displayed like a deposed Christ, Ernesto "Che" Guevara had become a synonym for revolution everywhere from Cuba to the barricades of Paris. This extraordinary biography peels aside the veil of the Guevara legend to reveal the charismatic, restless man behind it. Drawing on archival materials from three continents and on interviews with Guevara's family and associates, Castaneda follows Che from his childhood in the Argentine middle class through the years of pilgrimage that turned him into a committed revolutionary. He examines Guevara's complex relationship with Fidel Castro, and analyzes the flaws of character that compelled him to leave Cuba and expend his energies, and ultimately his life, in quixotic adventures in the Congo and Bolivia. A masterpiece of scholarship, Companero is the definitive portrait of a figure who continues to fascinate and inspire the world over.

*Includes pictures of important people, places, and events. *Includes some of Che's and Castro's quotes about socialism, America, Revolution, and more. *Explains their relationship and their roles in the Cuban Revolution. *Includes a Bibliography of each man for further reading. "Men do not shape destiny. Destiny produces the man for the hour." - Fidel Castro, 1959. "The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall." - Che Guevara Fidel Castro is one of the most influential and controversial men of the last 50 years, equally revered and reviled by people across the globe. To the West, Castro has long been one of the prominent faces of Communism, and the main reason Cuba has been ostracized by many liberal democracies, particularly the United States. On the other hand, Castro has been admired by those who despised capitalism, and despite the fact the political platform Castro advocated has been almost universally repudiated and only maintains a weak hold even in Cuba, Castro's Marxist-leaning writings and speeches have influenced other leaders across the globe, from Hugo Chavez to Nelson Mandela. Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, known to the world as Che, has led two lives. In the first of these lives, the Argentine-born revolutionary was a remarkable and flawed doctor-turned-guerilla who left behind a highly controversial political legacy. In the second, he was - and is - first and foremost an image. Specifically, he is one particular image in which he appears as a wavy-haired, bearded young man with a beret and an intense gaze. The photograph, entitled Guerrillero Heroico and taken on March 5, 1960 by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda, is said to be the most reproduced image in the history of photography. Although Che's face, as captured by Korda, first achieved its global iconic status during the student revolts of the 1960s, it has subsequently reappeared again and again as a branding device for a wide array of products. Korda himself brought a copyright lawsuit against Smirnoff Vodka for using Guerillero Heroico in an advertising campaign, and since Korda's 2001 death his daughter has gone to court with several other companies. There is little market for the type of revolution that Che advocated and pursued, but the aura of rebellion that his image exudes still carries a notable sway. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara chronicles the lives, careers, and revolutions Castro and Che were involved in, while analyzing the controversies and legacies they left in their wake. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about Fidel and Che like you never have before.

Sweig shatters the mythology surrounding the Cuban Revolution in a compelling revisionist history that reconsiders the revolutionary roles of Castro and Guevara and restores to a central position the leadership of the Llano. Granted unprecedented access to the classified records of Castro's 26th of July Movement's underground operatives--the only scholar inside or outside of Cuba allowed access to the complete collection in the Cuban Council of State's Office of Historic Affairs--she details the debates between Castro's mountain-based guerrilla movement and the urban revolutionaries in Havana, Santiago, and other cities.