The Real Fidel Castro

By Leycester Coltman

Fidel Castro has long been many things to many people; an idealist to some, a dictator to others. Neither assessment is completely true.

This book describes key events that shaped Castro’s life, from his political activism as a student, his years as a communist revolutionary and guerrilla fighter alongside Che Guevara, to his decades in power surviving the Cold War, assassination attempts, the missile crisis and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

As British Ambassador to Cuba in the early 1990s, Sir Leycester Coltman had privileged access to Castro, and the pair had many meetings and discussions. These conversations revealed the thoughts, personality and motivations of one of the most controversial figures in recent history.

The Real Fidel Castro is a first-hand account, and an authoritative biography, that provides a clear and dispassionate analysis of Castro, without the political rhetoric that typically accompanies any discussion of the man.