An insider’s account that by definition is difficult for outsiders to evaluate because the author and many of his key...
An analysis of Fidel Castro focusing on Cuban spy activity, by a retired CIA officer who specialized in tracking the Castro brothers.
Latell (After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro's Regime and Cuba's Next Leader, 2005) was bound by his employment contract to submit this book to CIA censors, and he claims they asked for only a few minor changes. Many of the fresh allegations about Castro, his crackerjack spy agency and U.S. efforts to undermine him are based on conversations between the author and Florentino Aspillaga Lombard, “the most knowledgeable Cuban defector ever to change sides.” That means the credibility of many of these allegations depend heavily on Aspillaga's credibility, though Latell states that he has no doubt about Aspillaga's memory or the purity of his motives. Perhaps the most dramatic revelation is that Fidel Castro, and presumably his brother, a key member of the Cuban revolutionary autocracy, knew ahead of time that Lee Harvey Oswald would assassinate President Kennedy in Dallas. Latell does not sugarcoat the reasons for the anger of the Castro brothers aimed at Kennedy; rather, the author offers considerable information about how the U.S. government tried continually to overthrow the Castro regime, including plans that could have led to the assassination of one or both Castro brothers. In addition to information about assassination plots, Latell explains how a small island nation built an impressive spy agency. Though the author does not find the CIA wanting, he acknowledges that sometimes the information gathered turned out to be outdated or incorrect.
An insider’s account that by definition is difficult for outsiders to evaluate because the author and many of his key sources are trained dissemblers.Pub Date: April 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-230-62123-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.
A study of swimming as sport, survival method, basis for community, and route to physical and mental well-being.
For Bay Area writer Tsui (American Chinatown: A People's History of Five Neighborhoods, 2009), swimming is in her blood. As she recounts, her parents met in a Hong Kong swimming pool, and she often visited the beach as a child and competed on a swim team in high school. Midway through the engaging narrative, the author explains how she rejoined the team at age 40, just as her 6-year-old was signing up for the first time. Chronicling her interviews with scientists and swimmers alike, Tsui notes the many health benefits of swimming, some of which are mental. Swimmers often achieve the “flow” state and get their best ideas while in the water. Her travels took her from the California coast, where she dove for abalone and swam from Alcatraz back to San Francisco, to Tokyo, where she heard about the “samurai swimming” martial arts tradition. In Iceland, she met Guðlaugur Friðþórsson, a local celebrity who, in 1984, survived six hours in a winter sea after his fishing vessel capsized, earning him the nickname “the human seal.” Although humans are generally adapted to life on land, the author discovered that some have extra advantages in the water. The Bajau people of Indonesia, for instance, can do 10-minute free dives while hunting because their spleens are 50% larger than average. For most, though, it’s simply a matter of practice. Tsui discussed swimming with Dara Torres, who became the oldest Olympic swimmer at age 41, and swam with Kim Chambers, one of the few people to complete the daunting Oceans Seven marathon swim challenge. Drawing on personal experience, history, biology, and social science, the author conveys the appeal of “an unflinching giving-over to an element” and makes a convincing case for broader access to swimming education (372,000 people still drown annually).
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61620-786-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
A heartfelt if somewhat unsurprising view of old age by the former president. Carter (Living Faith, 1996, etc.) succinctly evaluates the evolution and current status of federal policies concerning the elderly (including a balanced appraisal of the difficulties facing the Social Security system). He also meditates, while drawing heavily on autobiographical anecdotes, on the possibilities for exploration and intellectual and spiritual growth in old age. There are few lightning bolts to dazzle in his prescriptions (cultivate family ties; pursue the restorative pleasures of hobbies and socially minded activities). Yet the warmth and frankness of Carter’s remarks prove disarming. Given its brevity, the work is more of a call to senior citizens to reconsider how best to live life than it is a guide to any of the details involved.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1998
ISBN: 0-345-42592-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
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