Many books have already been written about the Cuban Revolution. Most of them have had an understandable focus on the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion. This author too deals with these very topics as swell, but he presents that chapter of Cuban history through autobiographical stories and the personal anecdotes of the individuals who actually participated in these events. The author goes back to his earlier years when he was immersed in the events that shaped his future, what he thought the revolution would be, and how the events he observed forced him to reverse his conclusions. He writes how, as a young idealist, he is driven to abandon the very pro-revolutionary cause he once embraced and, instead, takes arms against the oppressive Castro regime. He shares his concerns and hesitations, describes his personal evolution. and recounts the joys and frustrations experienced while participating in guerrilla and other paramilitary activities that eventually evolved into the debacle known as the Bay of Pigs. The stories are all true, and some remain painful after more than fifty years. Additional anecdotes are presented by several of his war buddies. All of them share in the same ideological principles, underwent similar experiences, reached the same conclusions and made similar individual decisions. They truly represent their generation, which was propelled into action by its religious principles and moral convictions. Their stories are as diverse as the individuals who share them. They range from the tender words of a grandfather answering the school project questions of an innocent grandson, to the sometimes bitter words and memories of those who felt abandoned and betrayed on the beachhead of the Bay of Pigs, all the way to the life-altering experience of a man who, at the age of eighteen, endures a hellish night where he personally says goodbye to eight of his friends and witnesses their executions by firing squad, one after another, after another... The book is not just history. It is living history; it is lived history. It was not written by scholars that researched the events using books written by others. Instead, it was written by those whose actions created that history, those that were active participants in the events described and were lucky enough to survive these events. Ramon Machado was born and raised in Cuba, and was part of the liberation efforts recounted in this book from the time he was 19 until he was about 25 years old. He became a nuclear engineer and worked in that field until he "retired" in 2002. He then taught high school physics for another 10 years. Now that he is truly retired he finally found the time to sit down and write this book. He has five children and five grandchildren and lives with his wife, Connie, in Mississippi.

Cuba Betrayed, first published in 1962, is an autobiographical work of former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, in which he expresses his viewpoint regarding his two terms as dictator, his defeat, and his successors—Cuba’s “Betrayers.” “The book is not meant to be a literary masterpiece. Still less has there been any attempt at stylistic elegance. It is, rather, an exposition of facts, a narration based on memory and notes.”—Introduction

On New Year’s Day 1959, Fidel Castro’s revolutionary movement overthrew the ruling regime in Cuba, bringing the Cold War to the United States’ doorstep and setting the island nation and its superpower neighbor on a collision course. The clash came in April 1961 on the southern coast of Cuba at the Bahía de Cochinos—the Bay of Pigs. In an hour-by-hour chronicle that is as even-handed as it is dramatic, J. J. Valdés gets to the heart of this Cold War battle, from the beaches and skies of Cuba to the corridors of power in Washington and Havana. Long entangled in Cuba’s economy and politics, the United States watched Castro’s revolution carefully and grew wary as Castro drew closer to the Soviet Union. Within a few months, the CIA, with President Dwight Eisenhower’s approval, was recruiting and training Cuban exiles for a paramilitary force to topple Castro. By early 1960, when John F. Kennedy became president after campaigning on a hard line on Cuba, policymakers believed the window for action was closing. Kennedy gave the go-ahead for the island’s invasion, but not before ordering changes, aimed at concealing American involvement, that weakened the operation. Early on April 17, 1961, 1,400 men of Brigade 2506—Cuban exiles trained by the CIA in Guatemala—began landing at the Bay of Pigs, just over 100 miles southeast of Havana. Nearly everything went wrong. Boat engines failed. Coral reefs snarled landing craft. Castro’s planes destroyed ships carrying vital ammunition and medical supplies. Expected popular support within Cuba did not materialize. Khrushchev rattled the nuclear saber, spooking Kennedy from ordering assistance he was reluctant to provide anyway. Over the course of three days, the Brigade obstinately defended a rapidly shrinking beachhead, but the exiles—outnumbered and under supported —were no match for the air and ground forces Castro threw against them. By April 19, the invasion had failed and 1,200 scattered survivors were captured over the ensuing days. What had been intended as a Cold War masterstroke ended in embarrassment for the U.S. The Bay of Pigs disaster would set the stage for the Cuban Missile Crisis eighteen months later and shape U.S.-Cuba relations up until the present. Decades in the making, Besieged Beachhead draws from English and Spanish sources in the United States and Cuba to tell the story of this conflict as it has never been told before. Along the way, the work sheds light on events that have been shrouded in secrecy, myth, and propaganda for six decades.

By the author of 2021 Pura Belpré Honor Book The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, a sweeping, emotional middle grade historical novel about a twelve-year-old boy who leaves his family in Cuba to immigrate to the U.S. by himself, based on the author's family history. “I don’t remember. Tell me everything, Pepito. Tell me about Cuba.” When the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 solidifies Castro’s power in Cuba, twelve-year-old Cumba’s family makes the difficult decision to send him to Florida alone. Faced with the prospect of living in another country by himself, Cumba tries to remember the sound of his father’s clarinet, the smell of his mother’s lavender perfume. Life in the United States presents a whole new set of challenges. Lost in a sea of English speakers, Cumba has to navigate a new city, a new school, and new freedom all on his own. With each day, Cumba feels more confident in his new surroundings, but he continues to wonder: Will his family ever be whole again? Or will they remain just out of reach, ninety miles across the sea? A Kirkus Best Children's Book of the Year "...Cuevas’ latest is a triumph of the heart...A compassionate, emotionally astute portrait of a young Cuban in exile." —Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW "Cuevas’ intense and immersive account of a Cuban boy’s experience after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion brings a specific point in history alive." —Booklist, STARRED REVIEW "Cuevas packs this sophomore novel with palpable emotions and themes of friendship, love, longing, and trauma, attentively conveying tumultuous historical events from the lens of one young refugee." — Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

Memoirs of a Cuban of No Importance, provides a first-hand view of what truly happened in a period of history that is distorted and forgotten. Specifically from 1959, when Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba until the Mariel Boatlift in 1980. The author walks us through the root of the problem based on his personal experience as a witness to an undeniable failed social experiment.The truth of what the Cuban people have endured needs to be told by those who have experienced it. Memoirs of a Cuban of No Importance, is the essential grain of sand for younger generations who can undoubtedly recognize and appreciate the worth of the wounded nation.