Before I read this book, I had only a the vaguest of notions about what happened in Cuba forty years ago. Living in Australia, I was aware that it had been a time of crisis for the USA, but I knew nothing of the heroic story of the patriotic and courageous band of Cubans who undertook a doomed mission to overthrow the Castro regime.

Karen Alea's story of "Pepin" Almeida, a doctor and one of the leaders of the Cuban rebels, brings that significant episode to life in a very graphic manner. She successfully takes us inside the mind of this man, exploring his motivation and his reactions to the tragic outcome of the mission. Her description of the horrendous days of wandering in the swamps before the band of dispirited men were taken prisoner is very well executed, as is the story of their incarceration, and the cruel mental torture they suffered.

Pepin Almeida emerges as a deeply spiritual man whose strong faith is very inspiring to the reader, whatever his/her own faith may be. Yet at the same time he is a very well-rounded person with endearing ordinary qualities. The story of his wife, Toty, while secondary to the main storyline, is also most inspirational.

Karen Alea has an engaging style and a gift for making people and situations very real to the reader. More from this author, please!

'In that stillness' is a book that discusses what is involved in meeting life fully. It has a Krishnamurti flavoring to it. A good read for those who are into such matters.

Table of Contents

I. Talks

The Journey Within Silence

The Important Question

The Need for Essence

A Life in Freedom

A Love That is True

Passages

II. Discussions and Deeper Enquiries

Introduction

The Responsibility of Communication

The Essential Relationship

The Language of Silence

A Deepening Yearning

The Response to a Human Being

The Qualities of Resistance

Coming to the Point of Stillness

The Flowering of a Human Heart

Seeing the Ocean

No Other Life

A Life Beyond Hurt

The Child of Intelligence

The Social Issue

One Need in Life

When the Heart Speaks

Passages

III. Reflections

From the Authors Journal

Corneille borrowed many ideas from Spanish authors, and his most famous work, Cid is also a rewriting of the play by Guillén de Castro, Las mocedades del Cid. However, like Spanish plays in general, this work does not follow the rule of the three units. The emphasis is more on the eventful action than on the Cid's conflict between honour and love. But, although not respecting the traditions, in Castro's plays Cid's doubts are psychologically more plausible because he is not confined to making a decision in some hours, and the conflicts are more complex than in Corneille's work as the number of characters is much more bigger. Moreover, the stress here is not on conflicts of conscience, but on an animated action. This can also be understood because Cid is Spain's national hero so the author is expected not to miss one opportunity to include some motifs from traditional Spanish romances to please the audience of his time. This way, the play is more similar to an action movie than to a psychological drama, although the most exciting scenes of course occur outside the stage. The audience gets to see only the reactions from the other characters, which might not please those who are in for explicit violence. The play also differs from Lope de Vega's honour plays, there are no violated virgins here, the theme of honour moves on another level. Also Lope was a much better dramaturgist, the building of tension whether the honour will be revenged or not here gets lost among the list of Cid's heroic deeds. It is more like a staged national myth, more epic than dramatic, better to be read than to be seen on a stage.

This book shows us the effort of Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, to mantain the orthodox faith of the Roman Catholic Church in his small diocese of Campos, Brazil.. God heard his prayers and received all his sacrifies... now Campos is the most Catholic place in the World.

If your interested in the art styles of mesoamerica and pre-columbia, but specifically of the Olmec civilization of ancient Mexico, this is the book for you. Nothing is left out and the research is very good. It will give the reader a broad knowledge of Olmec art, its predecessors and influences, and how it spread all across mesoamerica. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in ancient civilzations and their cultural expressions. This book clearly demonstrates the power and intensity of Olmec art!

I would love to meet and greet the person the book is about. It is as if he has left no stone unturned. Mr. Vesco if you can read this please call me @ 1-313-577-6951. Thanks Carole McCormick.

I ordered this book along with a similar one for girls for my 10 year old daughter. Her book fit her age perfectly, but this one was too advanced for my son who was 9 at the time. It talks about things that (in my opinion) a 9 or 10 year old shouldn't know about yet. He hasn't been allowed to read it yet because knowing my son as I do, he would use the information in it as gossipy talk amongst his friends and it would be a joke to him. I wanted to introduce them to the changes that will soon be affecting their bodies, but for my son, it went way beyond explaining puberty...it went into sex, masturbation, homosexual relationships...these things are far too advanced for my son. The book would be excellent for a 12 to 14 year old as it has many funny cartoons and explainations that would make it easier to understand and less secretive and less likely to embarrass. It is a great book, but because of the fact that it said it was for ages 9 and up, I assumed that it wouldn't be quite so detailed and descriptive, and that it would deal more with bodily changes instead of relationships and sex and such as that.

I ordered several books of this type for my 11 year-old and read them all cover-to-cover. This is the best of the bunch in it's coverage of diverse topics and its practical, non-techinical tone. As a mom, I especially liked the section which throoughly explained the ramifications of an unwanted pregnancy. In contrast, the book "Asking About Sex and Growing Up" dealt with pregnancy via sections such as "Why would a girl let herself get pregnant?" (sometimes a girl secretly wants to get pregnant...) and "What happens when a girl gets pregnant?" (she may be upset for a long time afterward.) This isn't how I want my son to understand his role. "What's Going on Down There" gets my top grade.

We are at a time in society where 10 year old kids are making babies. My son was 10 when he read this book and I must say I couldn't have bought it at a more perfect time. This book explains the changes his body is going through and will go through in a few years. When I asked him if he understood what he was reading, he told me that he already knew or was feeling some of what the book outlined - He just didn't understand "WHY." He even translated to me in his own words what each chapter was about. I remember thinking to myself, not only is this book educational, it's also an easy and interesting read. I am a single mother and there is no way I could have ever answered his questions without this book. This book has made me and my son's life a little less complicated. Thank you Karen Gravelle, et al - Me and me son really needed this book.

Mr. Quirk has certainly done his homework. This book is packed with information, and it really takes you through Fidel's life and I feel as though I have a picture and a sense of the man.

The problem to me though, is the book seemed very one sided. There were too many jabs and remarks about Cuba and Castro in the book. Fortunately for me right before reading this book i spent 2 weeks in Cuba *with the people*. Being a musician i was able to get close to Cubans in a way most people can't. With these 2 sources of information (Cuba and the book) I have been able to form my opinion of Castro and of Cuba. I love Cuba and I love the Cubans, AND i'm not a socialist AND i do have some admiration for Castro.

True, Cuban government literature is extremely biased as well, but the people are honest. If this book came with round trip tickets to Cuba you could really get a fairly broad and honest picture of castro and cuba. But since it doesn't, i recommend reading with care.

Please consider this (my 2 cents): 1) i talked with many cubans who feel Castro was a better alternative to the outside (yes U.S.) domination they were facing. Cuba has a very violent and oppressive past. 2) Children of the revolution who do not know life before Castro do not hate him, they seem to like him to some degree. 3) Remember: low crime, little or no domestic violence, little or no child abuse. no drugs, little racism between the Spanish Cubans and the Afro-Cubans. Nearly 100% literacy!

4) The Cuban people are genuinely gentle and kind

I guess Castro should get some credit for some of this, but i didn't find much in this book.

Yes, i'm aware gays are persecuted, people build rafts out of logs to get away, toilets don't flush, and they truck water into the havana. This is not the way I would want to live.

This is my point: please be open-minded and take care with the Cubans and with Cuba and even with Fidel. There is a lot to consider when reading about Cuba. Too many Cubans on both sides 'of the water' have been hurt by recklessness and greed.

Please remember i am not an authority on any of this. These are my humble opinions and observations.

This is book is a welcome addition and sheds much needed light on the phenonmenon of Castro. It is thoroughly researched and quite lengthy-perhaps too much so however. After completing a masters degree in Latin American studies and pouring over the vast literature on Cuba, I definitely recommend this book but suggest reading others on the topic as well. Cuban studies is such a politicized field and it is remarkably difficult to find academics, pundits, and others writing in this area who aren't completely biased in one way or the other. In addition to this book, I recommend books and articles by Jorge Dominguez, who is probably the most noted scholar writing on Cuba today.

Prior to reading Quirk's biography of Fidel Castro, I had developed a vehement hatred for Communist Cuba. This hatred originated from anti-Communist propaganda I had experienced during middle-school, they said Castro nearly started WWIII, and was a hoodlum who should have been taken out a long time ago.

But then a few people I knew recommended Quirk's biography of Castro, they also recommended two other fine bio's of Fidel, one by Georgie Anne Geyer, and another by Tad Szulc. I purchased the book, and read it with a completely biased perspective. But after reading the book, I really began realize what my teachers had told me about Castro was a complete fallacy. Castro, contrary to popular opinion, was a man who had the best interests of his people when taking power, and is not the megalomaniacal tyrant that I had come to think of him as. The author intended to write a negative portrait of "El Commandante", but the author couldn't possibly conceal Fidel's vast achievements. After reading Quirk's book, I am completely convinced Fidel Castro is one of the few genuine genius's of the Twentieth Century, belonging in the ranks of Churchill, FDR, Lenin, and Trotsky. I highly recommend this extraordinary book.

...compared with "Bordering on Chaos", this book makes me question Oppenheimer a bit. And, there has yet to be Castro's "final hour" eight years after this book has been published. But I did enjoy the in depth reading of certain events he covers, and I think it must be pretty difficult to write such an intensive work on such a controversial subject. I look forward to more good readings on Cuba.

"Castro's Final Hour" - The Secret Story Behind the Coming Downfall of Communist Cuba is written by the Miami Herald foreign correspondent Andres Oppenheimer.

This is an excellent book, a good overview over Cuba and the political situation there. This book touches on many interesting topics, Cuba's history, politics, drug trafficking, and money laundering to mention a few. This book taught me a whole lot of things. (I read first Che's biography, and followed up with this one. It certainly helped me a lot to have Che's biography as a base when reading this book). The fact that the book is nearly ten years old is not so important. The situation hasn't changed much, unfortunately. ...

Oppenheimer shows extensive knowledge about Cuba's history and culture. The research undertaken to write this book is no less than impressive. Especially when considering the fact that Castro is rather paranoid when it comes to criticism. How Oppenheimer got the Cubans to talk I don't know... But the fact that he is a fluent Spanish speaker definitely helped him while researching for this book.

I truly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the political situation in Cuba.

An interesting read!

I read this book with great reluctance and skepticism. It was recommended to me a cousin who had recently emigrated to Mexico from Cuba, where I read it in Spanish on the eve of my own trip to the island to visit family (this trip took place Nov 97). While many of the hardships of the Special Period in Time of Peace -- Castrospeak for the crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet block -- have eased, this book is an honest, unflinching portrait. It accurately describes Cuba as a nation struggling to keep what is best in the revolution while moving past what is worst, primarily through the words of its own people and key events not widely reported in the US. It makes it clear that the US embargo not only worsens the lives of ordinary Cubans, but provides Fidel with a catch-all excuse for not dealing with internal economic problem. After reading this book it is easy to see the US embargo as the most bass-ackwards US foreign policy move of the last 20 years -- virtually guaranteeing that Fidel remain in power with his ultimately empty anti-imperialist rhetoric. The details of how Fidel is turning the nation into Europe's and Canada's bargain brothel are heartbreaking.

This book is a must for supporters of the Cuban revolution because it forces us to confront the realities Cubans face in their daily lives, without the rose-colored glasses of socialist idealism.

As a believer in the guilt of Lee Harvey Oswald, I was intrigued by the thesis of Live By the Sword: The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK (Bancroft Press, Baltimore-ISBN 1-890862-01-0). That thesis, stated simply, is that the Kennedy brothers' "secret war" on Castro (during which they tried to remove him from power through invasion, counterinsurgency, and even assassination) backfired resulting in JFK's death at the hand of Oswald. This concept, while not new, does go a long way toward providing the long sought motive for Oswald's actions and at the same time reinforces his guilt.

The author, Gus Russo, is a long time JFK assassination researcher who worked on the highly regarded 1993 PBS Frontline documentary on the life of the enigmatic "Marxist Marine" (Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald). Russo admits to being schooled in the assassination by early Warren Commission critics such as Mark Lane. This could explain his disturbing tendency to lend legitimacy to otherwise unsupported observations by a few of the "thousands" of persons whose interviews he accessed (and conducted) for this book. One has the sensation when reading certain passages that it could be authored by Jim Marrs after undergoing a conversion at the hands of Gerald Posner. This certainly does not destroy the value of the book but it does diminish it. In fact, for most serious researchers, Live By the Sword is bound to be something of a mixed bag.

The book's prose is generally very well-written. However, I did notice several typos that may be more the fault of the editors at Bancroft Press than Russo. There is a 32-page photo section near the center of the book that includes some never before published items. Live By the Sword features an "Additional Materials" section that includes three appendices, a bibliography, and 70 pages of endnotes which contain citations and the type of supplemental information sometimes found in footnotes. Russo divides his work into five "Books". These are Kennedy, Oswald, New Orleans, The Fall of Camelot, and A Coverup.

Supporters of the Warren Commission defend its work by saying that despite flawed methodology and other gaffes, they were correct in their basic conclusions. This statement is analogous to my feelings for Gus Russo and Live By the Sword. He makes some excellent arguments over the course of the book's 617 pages, but has failed to tie everything together - an admittedly difficult if not impossible task. Russo may have hurt his work by trying to "throw in everything but the kitchen sink" in an effort to prove his thesis. The sad thing is, he probably didn't have to. He certainly seems to have had enough legitimate material (his bibliography covers eleven and a half pages) to make his case without using some of the more questionable data - especially certain interviews. This "information overload" may be partly explained by Russo's frustration at the failure of the Kennedys to release RFK's private papers.

As one who believes Oswald acted alone, I was certainly ready to embrace Russo's book with open arms. It is definitely an appealing hypothesis. If the central thesis were more factually grounded, you could even think of it as Case Closed with a greater emphasis on motive. The truth is, history may ultimately prove Russo to be at least partly correct. However, wanting something to be fact doesn't make it so - at least not yet. Gus Russo has not proven his case with Live By the Sword. He comes very close in some areas but more often than not he leads the reader in a tantalizing dance only to stop the music. Having said that, I still recommend the book to any serious assassination researcher. There is plenty of food for thought and enough twists and turns to offer something for everyone. In fact, Live By the Sword may be remembered as being the first book on the JFK assassination that tried to be all things to all people.

Russo will win no new friends among believers in the myth of Camelot. His book shatters that myth and shows John and Robert Kennedy to be what they were -human beings. They were no more or less heroic or villainous than many leaders before or since. They made mistakes (some more serious than others) and enjoyed victories as well. They suffered from vices of the flesh and spirit as well as petty jealousies and burning ambition. This pragmatic interpretation of Camelot is likely to be Russo's literary gift to the body of JFK assassination research.

This excerpt is the introduction to Live By The Sword: The Secret War That Killed JFK, by Gus Russo.

On November 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assasinated, I was a 13-year-old freshman attending Mount St. Joseph's High School, a Catholic school in Baltimore, Maryland. I remember exactly where I was when I heard the first whispered rumor--in the hallway on my way to a sixth period biology class. I recollect just as distinctly what I heard: "Some Cuban guy working for Castro shot the President!" It wasn't long before I heard a new explanation for the president's murder: "It was a Russian agent working for Khrushchev!" None of us knew which was the more shocking or potentially dangerous rumor.

In the blur of that first horrible day came yet another news report, this one stating that the President had been shot by a former Marine hiding in a book warehouse and using a German Mauser-type rifle. Hours later, the Dallas police

took such a man into custody five miles away, in a Dallas movie theater. Two days later, by the end of that paralyzingly sad weekend, the story of JFK's assassination had turned 180 degrees: Now, according to most of the reports, the President had been shot in the back of the head by a Castro sympathizer using an Italian rifle.

I couldn't help but be intrigued.

After the suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, was gunned down on the way from one Dallas jail to another, President Lyndon Johnson put together an august body, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, to find out definitively (or so it was thought) who had killed the president and why. Ten months later, without any equivocation, it concluded that Oswald, an American and a former Marine, had acted alone with no clear motive, and certainly without evidence of any involvement by Cuba, the Soviet Union, or any other foreign nation.

My own initial skepticism over the 1964 Warren Commission findings was fueled by the naivete (perhaps it was the arrogance) of a seasoned teenager who had read all the James Bond novels. I knew about spies, and fake defectors, and sharpshooters, and patsies. The government couldn't fool me! My suspicions were heightened by the obvious government secrecy over the investigation, especially the sealing of the Warren Commission records for 75 years. Thus, I, like many of my age group, became an amateur investigator pursuing the ultimate truth--what exactly happened on November 22, 1963. ...

Throughout many of my years of research, I was convinced that all the truths surrounding the Kennedy assassination would never be known--that a complete story could never be told. After the House Committee's work of 1979, I was more convinced than ever of Oswald's complicity. But there were huge gaps in the case that left me with the pervasive feeling that all was not being told. My inquiries were purely personal; I never intended to write a book on this case. In fact, I never thought anyone could write a good book on this subject because all the secrets were well beyond the grasp of anyone without subpoena power. To my complete surprise, and when I least expected it, two key events forced me to change my mind.

It was while in New Orleans for Frontline that I had my first inkling of the "ultimate truth," the one explanation that resolved everything for me: Oswald's apparent lack of a motive; the Kennedy family's reluctance to say anything about Jack's death; Robert Kennedy's unrelenting grief; the secrecy surrounding the two key cities in Oswald's life (New Orleans and Mexico City).

More important by far was the release of the JFK documents required by the JFK Act. Measured in man-hours, I spent practically a full year combing the files. They enabled me to see that the big question wasn't WHO done it, but WHY. Aided by the decision of RFK intimates to tell me their stories, and the Review Board's release of over three million pages of previously classified documents, I am able, for the first time, to speak the unspeakable. My research has convinced me that John and Robert Kennedy's secret war against Cuba backfired on them--that it precipitated President Kennedy's assassination. ... In the ensuing years, not only have Jack and Jackie been turned into caricatures, but so have Oswald, Jack Ruby (the man who killed Oswald), the FBI, and the CIA, to name a few. There certainly are one-dimensional individuals in this world--people who are either pure good or pure evil. Those "types," I have learned, had nothing to do with JFK's murder.

I learned that the Bobby Kennedy I so admired in 1968 had been a polar opposite as his brother's Attorney General: dangerously inexperienced, and, worst of all, reckless. In the time it took for a hyper-velocity rifle bullet to traverse 100 yards, Bobby was converted to an introspective man of peace. He and other members of the Kennedy clan went on to give much to the country. Their contributions to the impoverished, the handicapped, and the racially excluded have been legendary and heroic. After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., when Bobby pleaded to enraged blacks "Make gentle the life of this world," he truly meant it, and many listened.

But a different Bobby Kennedy, five years earlier, had berated government officers 20 years his senior for their slow pace in eliminating Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

More than most, Bobby himself appreciated the importance of his personal transformation following the assassination. Toward the end of his life, he mused, "I have wondered at times if we did not pay a very great price for being more energetic than wise about a lot of things, especially Cuba."

He was right. Gus Russo Baltimore, MD July 1998

The New York Times Book Review, May 23, 1999, NONFICTION

In December 1991, Oliver Stone released his movie "JFK," about the murder of John F. Kennedy, and as a result of a public outcry, Congress passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which called for total disclosure by all Federal agencies and private individuals who might be in possession of relevant material. These three million-plus pages proved to be a treasure-trove of information for those interested in the assassination, and Gus Russo has based much of his compelling, exhaustively researched and evenhanded book, "Live by the Sword," on it. Russo has had a longstanding interest in the assassination; he was one of the lead reporters on "Frontline"'s 1993 documentary "Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?" and served as the chief investigative reporter for ABC's news special "Dangerous World: The Kennedy Years." After sifting through mountains of evidence and conducting interviews, Russo comes to a simple conclusion: Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy. Russo also maintains that it was Kennedy's obsession with ridding the world of Fidel Castro by any means necessary, including assassination, that resulted in his own death. Was Oswald a Cuban agent? Russo stops just short of saying this, but he does argue persuasively that the emotionally disturbed Oswald acted out of admiration for Castro and could well have been encouraged by pro-Castro agents. What is most impressive about "Live by the Sword," however, is that he is able to explain (though not condone) the activities of many of those in Government, including Lyndon B. Johnson, the C.I.A. and Robert Kennedy, all of whom fought hard to keep what Russo calls "the secret war against Castro" from the public - thereby averting possible American retaliation and, perhaps, another catastrophic world war.

CHARLES SALZBERG

I'm awestruck by this review--it says that the "simple" conclusions of this daring, groundbreaking book are in fact right, and must be taken seriously. Basically, the most prestigious--and critical--newspaper in the world has itself concluded that Gus Russo cracked the case, correctly demonstrating what the Kennedy assassination was all about. I've read tons of these "assassination books"--and it's a field full of writers offering vastly different opinions about who did what, to whom, and why. Lots of us layman, I think, have a tough time accepting new angles or "new spins" on this old, old story. Some of us are instantly put off by a large, persuasive book whose contents are tough to evaluate. That's why I was so struck by the NYT review--and why it's so important. It represents a clarion call to the uncertain media that it's safe to regard "Live by the Sword" in the same terms that the Book of the Month Club used--"a definitive chronicle."