THORN IN OUR FLESH: Castro's Cuba

. . . but not a dagger in our heart,"" said Senator Fulbright, and using only the prickly part of the quote in the title is just the first of many false moves here. To cite more or less at random what's pervasive. . . the ""Bogota Affair,"" a salient episode in Castro's radicalization, is thoroughly garbled (e.g. contrary to the implication here, responsibility for Colombian reformer Gaitan's death has never been determined); so are events following the 26th of July rebels' release from the Isle of Pines (e.g. Castro chose exile) and the motivation of important new recruit Alberto Bayo; Herbert Matthews didn't 'find his way' to Castro, he had been sought out to publicize the band's existence and intentions. Besides the misstatements, misimplications and omissions that amount to the same thing, there is no sense of proportion, minor incidents figuring while a full account of major events (like the Moncada Barracks trial) is lacking. Whatever its shortcomings, Goldston's Cuban Revolution (below) is masterful by comparison (and Byron Williams' Cuba transcends comparison).