The Winds of December: The Cuban Revolution of 1958

by John Dorschner, Roberto Fabricio

Interviews with more than two hundred people, including Fidel Castro, and a study of previously classified U.S. State Department documents provide the basis for a dramatic recreation of the Cuban revolution of 1958

Genres: Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published April 1, 1980

Reviews

[Jose]

A Very interesting if at sometimes a bit flawed book, The Flaws I see when reading are the sources the book depends on From Fidel"The Mass Murderer" Castro to Raul Mass Murderer and Vilma,Celia,Che,etc all Mass Murderers and Communists Since BEFORE THE Revolution,the whole myth about Castro being pushed into Communism cannot be taken serious by any scholar,the evidence points to the contrary.From His days Meddling in another Country's Affairs(Colombia,Dominican Republican) To His Murderous Gangster Days at University,There is not admirable about him,And Che Didn't Fight, He wasn't a Fighter but a Meddler in Cuba's Affairs and a Coward and A Murderer,The Communists were there from The Start with The PSP. Those are some of the things why the book doesn't to me, not hard enough on the subject and too apologetic. Where as you see the Previous Tyrant's actions and behind the scenes up to that Fateful CURSED Day in 1959 when Cuba Went From Bad TO WORST, I recommend you read it, I enjoyed Varona's and The Directorio's Stories the Ones who Really along with The Autenticos Fought the Most behind the scenes, At Least the Book Points that Castro Didn't want to lose out to any of them,being the egotistical Rotten SOB he is.

[MJ VARA]

Winds of December is history but reads like a novel.

This book is written in the "old school" style of Water Lord's A Night To Remember (about the sinking of the Titanic) and Robert K. Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra (about the end of the Russian monarchy and the murder of the Romanovs).

Winds of December combines a narrative built on nitty-gritty, fact-based, historical details with the pace and intrigue of a good political thriller.

Like any biography or history one must keep in mind it is an attempt at depicting people and events and as such, even the best efforts, have errors of fact or flaws "tracking" what actually happened. In the end historical events and the people leading and/or living them are fluid and in we only get a facsimile of what occurred-- and even the most objective treatments are subjective by virtue of the nature of biography and history writing, in condensing a dynamic reality into a narrative between two covers


But, having said that, I found this book in brings those events to vivid life.

[Andrew Elsbury]

The Book is very anti-Communist, and this bias shows in the writing. This book reads as though its non-fiction, which made this an enjoyable read, although(compared to other sources)being not too accurate, leading to its low rating.

[Mark Nenadov]

The authors did an excellent job documenting the events surrounding the Cuban Revolution of the 1950's.

If there was a strong bias, I certainly didn't notice it. The authors thread together many different events and stories to create a compelling work and they seem to do it with a high level of professionalism and fairness.

At times, I found it to be a little overwhelming. New individuals are introduced quickly and sometimes it is hard to keep up with the flow as the authors quickly switch between narratives. But even with that fault, I give it 5 stars because it is a surpurb book.

This book avoids abstractions and and avoids the temptation to over-focus on broad ideologies, and therefore is able to deliver a potent survey of what exactly was going on amoung Cubans when the revolution was fomenting and occuring. It is detail oriented, and hones down right to each important player in the revolution.

[Baily]

I loved this book so much!