Castro

In keeping with the series "Profiles in Power" of which it is a part, this book is more an assessment of Castro's political ideas and sources of power than a biography, though personal details are included to the extent that they sustain the narrative and illuminate the subject.

Within a chronological framework, the book sets out to examine the historical context in which Castro emerged as a national and international statesman and the ideological base on which the new Cuban state was founded.

It attempts to analyze the changing structure of power in post-revolutionary Cuba and stresses the Cuban and Third World dimension of Castroism.

It argues that Castro's popular appeal rests on identification with a century-old struggle for national regeneration and discusses the problem of Castro's succession against the background of economic crisis, internal corruption, and the effects of perestroika.

The primary sources used in its preparation were mainly the words of Castro himself, of which there is no shortage, as well as letters and documents published in Cuba and elsewhere.