Sunday, June 17, 2007

Fidel Castro Autobiography


Written in collaboration with Ignacio Ramonet, the editor of the French publication Le Monde Diplomatique Castro's autobiography---an English hardcover version of Debate's Spanish edition of Fidel Castro: Biografia a dos voces---promises to delivery the goods on Castro's life, told from his own words (hence the A Spoken Autobiography subtitle).

Whereas Nation Books tried to give a compelling picture of the Cuban leader in The Prison Letters of Fidel Castro---released earlier this year, Scribner's English version of Castro's life tries to set itself apart by presenting the same previously unpublished photographs in the Spanish version, highlighting Castro over the years. There are the soft moments, as with his friendship with revolutionary Che Guevara, the triumphant moments (the Fulgencio Batista victory) as well as better-known pages in history as the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the island nation leader's relationships with U.S. presidents.

Ramonet who's written The Geopolitics of Chaos and the French language media critique Propagandes Silencieuses: Masses, television, cinema is best known for his war encyclopedia Wars of the 21st Century and as also the founder of Media Watch Global, a media monitoring project. Scribner originally planned to release the book in early September, but has moved the book for October release.

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