The Double Life of Fidel Castro

May 1, 2015

This loyal bodyguard-turned-Miami exile delivers a lively expose of the state secrets and peccadillos of his former boss and idol: Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Sanchez packs his memoir with fascinating anecdotes, in which Castro's health scares and passion for fishing appear alongside snappy appraisals of his numerous mistresses and children. To millions, Castro is a hero who has outlasted ten U.S. presidents, created an elite spy service, and commanded the Cuban armies that drove South Africa's apartheid regime from Angola. But for Sanchez, Castro doubles as an egocentric, paranoid autocrat who betrayed his revolution's promise--a despot who basks in a secret island paradise, plots with cocaine traffickers, and sanctioned the author's torture and imprisonment for retiring two years early. While equating communism with slavery, Castro's former bodyguard hints at his own lingering admiration for El Lider Maximo and even calls out U.S. corporations for historically exploiting Cuban workers. VERDICT Readers seeking scope--or verifiability--should choose Tad Szulc's Fidel or Volker Skierka's Fidel Castro, but Sanchez's nonstop revelations, energetic voice, and cognitive dissonance are liable to entertain and intrigue almost any audience.--Michael Rodriguez, Hodges Univ. Lib., Naples, FL

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.