Adversity Is My Angel: The Life and Career of Raul H. Castro

by Raul H. Castro, Dr. Jack L. August Jr.

Raúl H. Castro was the first Hispanic governor of Arizona, ambassador to El Salvador, Bolivia, and Argentina, lawyer, judge, and teacher. Born in Mexico in 1916, he moved with his family to a small mining community in Arizona in 1926. His earliest memories include collecting cactus fruit in the desert for food. His childhood served as a metaphor for Mexican and American attitudes of mutual suspicion and distrust. Castro, nevertheless, defied the odds and, thanks to an athletic scholarship, entered Arizona State Teachers College where he graduated in 1939. By then an American citizen, he worked for the U.S. State Department as a foreign service officer at Agua Prieta, Sonora and then entered the University of Arizona College of Law. He was admitted to the Arizona bar in 1949. After practicing law in Tucson for several years, he became deputy Pima County attorney. In 1954, he was elected county attorney and served until 1958, when he became a Pima County Superior Court Judge. President Lyndon Johnson appointed Castro U.S. ambassador to Salvador in 1964 and to Bolivia in 1969. Castro was elected governor on the Democratic Party ticket in 1974 but an appointment as ambassador to Argentina interrupted his term. Raul Castro's story suggests much about the human spirit, the ability to overcome institutional and personal prejudice, and the hope inherent in the American dream.

Genres: Biography

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

Reviews

[Allison Dunlap · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love to read an inspiring biography and this had all the elements I love of an underdog overcoming prejudice and racial bias to make it in this world successfully.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four stars for the overcoming of adversity, two stars for the actual writing. This slim non-fiction book about the life and times of the only (so far) Hispanic governor of Arizona (1975-77) and US Ambassador to El Salvador, Bolivia, and Argentina is brief, well documented, but full of holes – many of the facts and anecdotes could have been better developed and tied together more neatly. Still, the benefits of determination, discipline, confidence and grit shine through in this documentation of Castro's inspirational life.