Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause

Masterful History and Biography

Looking for insights on Cuban history, culture, politics, Castro¿this is a good historical exposition of a country that has gone through more turmoil and experiments in government than perhaps any other in the Western hemisphere. Looking for an informative and exciting narrative about a family owned company¿this is a very moving story of a strong-willed entrepreneurial family blessed with three masterful CEOs in succession who figured out how to succeed worldwide despite being headquartered in a relatively unsophisticated financial backwater. Put these two stories together and the result is the proverbial whole being greater than the sum of its parts: an excellent journey juxtaposing financial acumen combined with patriotism, on the one hand, against a variety of dismaying governmental experiments, on the other, including Spanish colonialism, years of revolution, US intervention, embryonic democracy, dictatorship, and a Marxist state economic system. This was obviously a labor of love for Gjelten, a first rate NPR reporter and analyst, as reflected in the source documentation provided unobtrusively at the end of the book, the very thorough and useful Bacardi family tree and the extensive photograph collection that brings even more life to the already well-drawn characters.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

THE GINGO GOT IT RIGHT

About time someone took the time and effort to research about the Bacardi Family and there heritage and what a dream can come true Bravo Tom, Bravo.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

An experienced journalist researches history.

Having read quite a few histories of Cuba, this book, although not directly a history of the island, reveals an excellent portrait of Cuba from the second half of the XIX century to the present, using the Bacardi family as a centrifugal force in Cuban politics.

Tom Gjelten used an extensive bibliography and personal interviews to succeed in providing a very enjoyable and didactic account of the history of perhaps the most notorious Cuban surname in the last 160 years.

At no point does Gjelten interject his opinions and with his fluid style never renders a boring sentence.

Highly recommended.

Cuba thrives on its heritage of rum-making

This book is well-written and well-researched and gave an insight of life on the island before and during the Castro years.

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