My Life

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£12.99

Officially culled from a series of revealing interviews with Ignacio Ramonet, “My Life” is Fidel Castro's biography 'in his own words'.

Such a book was always going to be a book widely read, an opportunity for both supporters and opponents alike to see, in Castro’s own words, the life of story of one of the most controversial figures of the twentieth century. Here, after many years and many journalists attempting the same, in a series of probing interviews, Ignacio Ramonet has coaxed the President of the Republic of Cuba to break his silence.

Castro’s life began on a sugar plantation eighty years ago. He went on to graduate as a lawyer, lead a failed revolution against the Batista regime, be tried and imprisoned, flee to Mexico, return to start a guerrilla war and, in 1959, at the age of thirty-two, march triumphantly on Havana. He soon became Prime Minister and has remained in power ever since, surviving nine US presidents and countless assassination attempts along the way.

In this book, he describes his life from the 1930s up to the present day; his parents, his earliest memories, the revolution, Che Guevara, the Bay of Pigs, Ernest Hemingway, the missile crisis, the Carter years, Cuban migration to the US. Ignacio Ramonet also challenges Castro to discuss his views on a number of controversial subjects: human rights and freedom of the press to the repression of homosexuality and the death penalty. He even asks Castro to give his frank opinion of other leaders, alive and dead, including George Bush and Tony Blair.

Whatever your views on this man are, this is an essential record of an incredible life - ad even more incredible times. His position in history is guaranteed and this is his perspective.

“Castro’s prodigious gifts are well displayed: his formidable erudition, steely discipline, epic curiosity and his astute grasp of history” Financial Times

“Gripping, almost cinematic. […] Whatever happens after Castro has gone, this book will provide an indispensable perspective on his record” The Guardian