Fulgencio Batista, Vol. 1: From Revolutionary to Strongman

Following his overthrow by Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator Batista entered history as an effigy of brutality, corruption and subservience to Yankee imperialism. In this superb biography, historian Argote-Freyre deepens and complicates that picture. This first of two volumes follows Batista (1901–1973) to his 1940 election to the Cuban presidency, covering his impoverished childhood, military career, seizure of control over the Cuban army during the revolutionary upheaval of 1933 and rule as the strongman behind a series of weak civilian governments in the 1930s. There's a leitmotif of violence and thuggery in the saga, but the author portrays Batista as a subtle, restrained political operator. Loath to rule openly by force, he contends, Batista worked to replace military power with political influence as his stock in trade (even allying himself with the Communists to win election), maintained an accommodating but independent stance toward the United States and advanced a wide-ranging social-reform agenda. Argote-Freyre recovers the complex, dynamic Cuban political scene of the early 20th century, with its party intrigue, militant labor movements, guerrilla folk heroes and secret terrorist societies. Balanced, judicious and fluently written, Argote-Freyre's biography offers an important and long overdue scholarly reassessment of a crucial figure in Cuban history. Photos. 26 b&w illus. (Apr.)