5 comments about Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar.

1. Moazzam Begg has written a memoir about an experience during three years as a "detainee" that reminds one of Franz Kafka's fiction, but he claims that these things really happened and he writes with such clarity, conviction, and telling detail that I, for one, am convinced. Whether or not he was "guilty" is a mute point because although he was accused of many things - some quite fantastic and improbable - and even "confessed" under duress, he was never charged or tried for any crime. After three years of harsh treatment and over three hundred interrogation sessions, he was merely told he was free to go with no apology, thanks or recompense.
   Although I consider myself well educated, I know little about the language, culture, history, and religion of Muslims; I have few acquaintances and no friends from that world. In this respect, I believe I am typical of most other native born senior citizen of the United States. I am indebted to Begg for lifting this veil of ignorance for me; he is an excellent ambassador. Interspersed in this narrative about what Hannah Arendt called the "banality of evil" are asides and incidents revealing information and insights valuable to my understanding. If he is an example of Islam in practice, I want to know more about it. In the midst of his ordeal he was able to reach out to many of his guards and interrogators and establish a human bond. I was reminded of Pogo's memorable statement: "we have met the enemy and he is us." If you are old enough to remember that line, you may also remember the bad old days of McCarthyism and anti-communist hysteria and have a sense of déjà vu. You might do well to pay close attention to this book as a primmer on how to survive the kind of ordeal that Begg suffered through. In the current political environment of anti-terrorist hysteria, if you give aid, comfort, or support to Begg or people like him you could well be labeled "Enemy Combatent" and suffer the same fate or worse.



2. I am only half way through this book, but I can't resit writing a preliminary review after seeing the other reviews offered here.
   
   This book is not well written. It is endlessly repetitive and the timeline of events is often vague or ambiguous. You have to wade through dozens of reconstructions of Begg's conversations with guards, most of which attempt to show how easy it was to be one up on the American servicemen that he regarded as his social inferiors. He comes across as a self promoting prig and a pansy. This seems to be the pattern for the leading jihadis, they come from relatively privileged backgrounds. They are disaffected young men from comfortable backgrounds using terrorism as a way to work out their own internal conflicts. In Begg's case he has clearly been influenced greatly by the feeling that he was never fully accepted in the UK.
   
   I was a POW in Hanoi for six years. I can understand Begg's emotional response to his imprisonment. He has gone through the same emotional roller coaster that afflicts all prisoners, but that experience is universal and not the fault of the US or anyone else.
   
   I do believe that the Administration erred seriously in not giving all these detainees POW status. One result of doing so would be that there would be no discussion of habeus corpus or detention without trial or guilt. POWs are guilty of nothing but are detained until exchanged by agreement with the enemy or the conclusion of hostilities. They have no right to expect anything else. Almost all of the mistreatment that has befallen the detainees has been generated by confusion at all levels as to what the standards of treatment should have been. The confusion came from the top and worked down through all levels. The bad decisions were urged upon the Administration by a bunch of attorneys who, to be blunt, had no idea what they were talking about. They were way out of their league. Their prime motivation was merely to provide legal rationale for what the Administration was determined to do anyway. Advice from senior experienced military leaders was disregarded by civilian leaders. This is especially galling as many of those civilians evaded service during Vietnam while the senior military leaders all earned their hard won experience in Vietnam.
   
   The US fell into the same trap the Vietnamese did by denying a hated enemy the protection of the Geneva conventions. But there are important differences. Those detained by the US got enough to eat. To bad that Begg didn't care for the food- he got enough to eat. Reports are that most Gitmo detainees have put on a lot of weight. We who were POWs in Vietnam did not have that problem. The diet was semi starvation until the last months of the war. No, it wasn't because the guards didn't have anything better. They were well fed.
   
   Begg wrote and received mail. I didn't write or receive mail for almost four years, and then it was only a small six line form several times a year. The Vietnamese did not list me and most others as captured until late in the war. Like most, I was "missing presumed captured" and my family had no idea if I was alive or dead.
   
   Begg had paper to write with and books to read. We had none of that until the last month of the war. Six years with no way to make any use of your time except what was inside your head.
   
   Begg did not get as much opportunity to exercise as he wanted. Compare that to never.
   
   Begg was closely monitored and got adequate medical attention. We had none of that. Those injured prior to or during capture were lucky to live. If they lived they were to suffer for years with bones that knit together at crazy angles because they were never set. Wounds often drained and festered for years because the dressings were never changed and antibiotics were never used consistantly. Many died of their wounds. Ask John McCain. He was left to die until the Vietnamese realized he was the son of an Admiral and might be of some use. Even so the treatment given was so clumsy that he still has a gimp arm and other less visible injuries. About 137 Americans that we are pretty sure were captured never returned and no explanation has ever come from Vietnam. They either died of wounds not treated or were tortured to death or were executed. That's a pretty substantial number when you realize that the there were less than 600 American POWs. True, some detainees have died in our custody, and there may be culpability in those cases, but we are talking about a hand full out of thousands of detainees, most of whom were released and never sent to Gitmo.
   
   I haven't come across anything yet in Begg's book that sounds like torture. Torture was universal for us and there wasn't any doubt that it was torture. What happened met every conceivable definition, even the cockeyed one used by the Administration. Some died during torture. I almost did. I am alive only by a lucky accident I don't choose to explain here.
   
   Begg's places of detention were regularly visited by the ICRC. That never happened in Vietnam.
   
   I could go on, but when Begg finds so much time to complain about the fact that some of the guards were unfriendly or even insulting, he doesn't have much to complain about. Imprisonment is not pleasant and military discipline isn't either. Begg did not seem to have any background to prepare him for either- lucky him. Bottom line to me is that his experience was a cake walk except for the fact that he was detained.
   
   Of course, the real issue is whether he should have been detained at all. The answer to that is maybe yes, maybe no. He is certainly not going to admit in his book that he was working with Al Quaida. And guess what- he was released long before the war ended. Maybe he was totally blameless, maybe he was just no longer a threat. His release may have been conditioned on a pledge of good behavior and no further participation in efforts against the US. If he had had POW status, that would be called parole, which has a long history in international law. If a POW and not paroled, he would still be detained and would have no access to any court. Keep in mind that the status of "enemy combatant" is someone who has less protection from the Geneva Conventions than a POW. The reason for that is that the detainee has been captured in the field engaging hostilities without being a part of any recognized armed force. Then consider that a POW will be detained until the end of hostilities without accusation or trial of any kind. If "enemy combatants" have less protection than POWs, how is it that they should have access to our legal system? The Administration's use of the "enemy combatant" status has been an error that helps no one. It has caused a lot of confusion even among legal scholars who should know better. Had they been kept as POWs, they could be kept until the end of hostilities with out trial, accusation or access to any court. If the US had any reason to believe any of them were guilty of crimes against the laws of war, they could still be tried for those acts. POW status does not protect anyone from criminal prosecution.
   
   I'm not happy with the way we've handled our captives in this conflict, but I challenge anyone to name any enemy we have ever faced who has done as well as the imperfect performance we have delivered this time.



3. leaving aside his guilt or innocence and the question of whether his treatment was fair or inhuman......what you won't find here is a political rant, mystical "epiphanies",philosophical speculation or reflections on Islam (except for talk among prisoners as to whether their religion permits attacks such as that of 9/11).instead we are given a calm, clear-eyed, step-by-step account of his time spent in custody. there are descriptions of the various guards, interrogators, and their rules and, finally, when he is released from solitary confinement, his fellow "detainees". he relishes reading so it is surprising that his poetry is the worst doggerel i've ever read. however the prose is clear and precise and he even includes the times when he lost his composure.



4. The author, either a pious bookseller and humanitarian or a supporter of al-Qaida, depending on who you ask, was abducted from his house in Islamabad and spent three years in the titular prisons. Begg is, by other accounts, a reasonable and charming man, and was a model prisoner who got along with several of his guards. His personality shows through in his prose, which is readable, clear, and impassioned without veering into needless vitriol (though he does not bother to hide his disdain for American culture and political ignorance). There are two ways to read the book: the unrepentant apologia of a liar who got caught funding terrorism, or the clarion call of an innocent man nearly destroyed by an unjust and unthinking system. Personally, I think there's a bit of truth to both. Begg leaves out an earlier arrest in his memoir, and even at times condemns himself from his own mouth. It isn't just a post 9/11 America that suspected him; he was investigated by MI5 as early as 1998. He also defends the Taliban, claims that he was allowed to build a girls' school under them, hints that 9/11 was known ahead of time by US authorities who let it happen, and thinks that Afghanistan was attacked because it was a "purist Islamic state" (which is ludicrous). But at the same time, the outrage of this book is that even if Begg was as bad as Bush and company said, he should have gotten a trial. The charges against him should have been made public and plain. He and all the others should have been treated with a modicum of humanity (which is not the same as respect or complacency). And certainly, US and British intelligence should have conducted interrogations with intelligence and coordination, not the repetitive, unhelpful sessions by any number of alphabet agencies vying with each other instead of sharing information. At the very least, Begg's memoir shows that the aftermath of the War on Terror is as badly handled in the prisons as it is in the White House.



5. Very interesting with alot of good info, however, Moazzam comes off a little self-righteous and arrogant. Ok he MAY have been wrongfully imprisoned, but his persistent pushing of his horrible poetry really puts me off.

5 comments about Vernon Can Read! A Memoir.

1. I listened to the unabridged audio cassette version of Vernon Can Read! This is a wonderful book. It has many dates and events in African American history of which Mr. Jordan contributed to, experienced and/or witnessed. These events are not only significant in the life of Mr. Jordan but also in the history of African Americans. The book is well written and easy to read and/or listen to. I told my five year old son about the experience of young Vernon Jordan and Mr. Maddock. It was inspiring to my son and we often listen to that portion of the tape while driving home from school. Mr. Jordan wanted the book to inspire his children and grandchildren and I suspect that it has. The book has also inspired my son. I highly recommend this book.



2. This book is an unfortunate piece of near puffery: much form, much superficiality, little substance. But what does one expect from a Power Broker? Truth or Dare?

   In keeping with the unwritten Power Broker Creed, Mr.Jordan reveals very little about the inside mechanations that made him who he is (as opposed to who he was). That is to say, the book speaks volumes about those life experiences that made Vernon Jordan the moderate civil rights leader he was years ago, but says exactly nothing about the transition from that leadership role, to the man who had the president's ear (not to mention the man who kept his secrets)and the ear of the REAL powerful people in this global econonmy: the corporate mavens for whom Vernon was (is?) paid handsomely to dish out advice and counsel to.

   We never hear in any detail about how Jordan quietly but persistently accumulated the power he achieved and, indeed, what motivated him in this pursuit. And no, I was not interested in any Monica dirt: Monica and the whole presidential thing, was (and is) beside the point when it comes to a rigorous Jordan analysis. That whole episode merely served as a template (and not a particularly good one) for the kind of back scratchery at high level that Jordan has been doing for years.

   But then again, what does one expect? People like Jordan (and mind you, I am a big fan of his)live by the aforementioned unspoken creed: power is best accumulated and exercised quietly. Thus, one does not reveal the secrets of the kingdom to just any average reader (by the way Vernon, what really does go on at those Bildeberg confrences?).

   We will not get the whole unexpurgated version of Jordan's life until some biographer decides to swim against currents and put one together.

   Those of us interested in reading something much more telling than Jordan's superficial telling of the story of his life will have to wait. Just as we similarly anxiously awaited biographical treatments of other quiet power brokers in the Clark Clifford, Tommy "the cork" mode (the wait is soon over for those of us interested in Tommy the cork and, thanks to the same author, was over several years ago for a good analysis of Clifford's life. CLifford's own biography, Counsel to the President, left much to be desired, too).

   As a high school to college level autobiographical treatment of the life of an important figure in post-world war II america, Vernon Can Read suffices. As anything deeper, it does not.

   Vernon can certainly Read, but what Vernon wrote certainly leaves alot to be desired.




3. Read this book. Mr. Jordan not only provides insight and anecdotes about many events and individuals in American civil rights history, his words also give us a glimpse of the workings of an incredible mind. His memoirs are filled with stories and recollections proving that desire, determination and accountability to self and others are crucial for success in any of life's endeavors. Simply stated, I'm inspired.



4. I also never heard of Vernon Jordan before the Lewinsky scandal. I am very glad I read this book. It is a shame that many Americans never heard of his interesting and enlightening story about coming of age in the civil rights era. That seems to me to be the theme of this book, that the civil rights era opened the doors to places of power not dreamed of before, if only one had the ambition and the character to find them.
   
   Like a few other reviewers, I also wish that the author revealed more about the period between when he was in charge of the Urban League. This period is when he made his contacts with very many powerful people in charge of corporations and institutions, received a fellowship at Harvard Business School, and started on his way to become a 'power broker'. I guess if you read between the lines the corporate/foundation contacts made him beholden to the business community, and then retiring from the Urban League to work for a powerful Washington law firm gave him a 'power broker' title. But its not really enough to make the connection, is it? And what about those Bilderberg meetings, Vernon? We would like to know more.



5. A fantastic book detailing the magnificent journey of a tremendous American! This book is packed with historical facts about the lives of Black people in America. Vernon Jordan was born in 1935 and although he did not live through slavery, he certainly lived through the Jim Crow days. However with a good father and a strong mother, he didn't just survive - he flourished. Yes, Vernon could and did indeed 'read'. The names of people mentioned in this book are dizzying. This man dealt with a wide range of people in his career.
   I loved the potent messages that came through with great clarity. Such as "never expect defeat before making an honest effort" pg.2 or pg. 277 his beliefs in concerted efforts..."each person or group using their abilities, contributing what they can to move things forward." I must also mention how happy I was to note Jordan's love for the women in his life; his mother, his invalid wife Shirley - who died at age 48, and his daughter Vickie - the apple of his eye.

5 comments about Fidel Castro: A Biography.

1. Fidel Castro: A Biography is a solid and thorough rendition of the life of Cuba's tenacious and controversial political leader. Tracing his early years, his influence on profound events of history, economic and social issues plaguing the nation of Cuba up to the modern era, and much more, Fidel Castro: A Biography is an exceptional, evenhanded portrait of an undeniably strong leader's strengths and weaknesses. An inset selection of black-and-white photographic plates complements the involving prose.



2. First of all, this is a great biography. Its incredibly balanced in many topics and pans all along the intense life of Fidel Castro.
   Im not giving 5 stars for two basic reasons:
   1. I think that it is fast forwarded on several fundamental moments of Castro`s history. For example, Sierra Maestra and its very complex development between the action in the mountains and the polithical operation that was done in the cities. That is a fundamental point in the triumph of the Revolution and Skierka gets short in detail and interpretation of the moment. Another example is the relationship between Castro and Che Guevara. The ideology of Guevara was much more influential for Castro than what Skierka merely suggests, Skierka runs away from the problem quoting a Che's biographer: Jorge Castañeda.
   2. This is very important for all the future readers of this work. This biography is classified by topics mostly and not chronologically. For me, this was annoying at some moments and I got more focused in others. For example, one of Castro's skills is the illusionism. He is an expert of saying yes and acting like no. In telling to everybody what they want to hear and do what he wants to do. He partially opened and closed Cuba's socialism so when you have this kind of charachters it can be annoying to be in 1995 and then return to 1989 and then fly to 2000 and return to 1959. On the other hand, there are some topics that get more interesting when you gather all the information, topics such as Castro and religion. It lights a part of Fidel that we could have never imagined, and for me it was one of the most enjoyable moments of the book.
   
   With these 2 handicaps it's still a great work. The economic side of the biography is well explained for all of us who dont have much knowledge on the subject, and we even learn about it withe guidance of Skierka.
   
   Fidel Castro's life is immensely interesting. No matter if you are a Fidelista or not, we are talking about a unique kind of politician. He is a survivor in the crushing steps of history. He survived a "Periodo Especial" which was his ultimate act of escapism.
   I really enjoyed to read this book. My understanding of the world development is now more clear and my perspective of Fidel Castro is now different than 500 pages before.



3. I thought this book was quite good. I remember that when I bought it I read a review stating the the book was outstanding, but the reviewer didn't like the fact that the author kept travelling through time instead of providing a chronological approach to the biography. I actually liked this book better for this reason, partly. Volker Skierka does write the book chronologically, but also skips ahead in time and some times reminds you of instances in the past. Having read this book I'm now interested in reading another, lengthier biography of Castro. The book also does a good job of providing some interesting analysis of what's currently going on in Cuba and what might happen after the man expires. I thoroughly enjoyed it!



4. There's absolutely nothing here not already explored in more detail elsewhere. The reader is forewarned as early as p. 3, when the author calls Naty Revuelta "the most captivating woman in Cuba." How many women did the author interview during the 1950s in Cuba so he could make this statement? Silly at best and incredibly breathless as well.
   And while we're on the opening pages, there's nothing about Castro's well-known illegitimacy and tremendously awful childhood, including the many traumatic events that later defined Castro's megalomaniacal behaviors. Instead, the author takes Castro's word that he was raised into a rich family and that he had some sort of normal childhood when nothing could be further from the truth. He was in fact raised in various foster homes, including the shack of his maternal grandparents. He was not allowed in the "big house" because his father was married to someone else. He didn't even have the last name Castro until he was 17.
   The best part of the book is the cover photo, which shows, among other things, Castro's long and manicured nails.



5. If you are looking for a biography of Castro this is a decent one. There are better ones out there but taken alone this book will tell you the essential things about Castro. I would recommend Guerilla Prince or Fidel Castro by Quirk as a substitute for this book. It is well written but lacks the in depth analysis that the previous two mentioned provide. If you just want a quick introduction use this one but if you really want to know about Castro I would use one of the other two.

No comments about The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Large Print Edition).

3 comments about Dear Bess: The Letters from Harry to Bess Truman, 1910-1959 (Give 'em Hell Harry Series).

1. The courtship of Harry Truman and Bess Wallace, is *the* over-looked love story of the century. Dear Bess is the most romantic book I have ever read. Harry's simplicity and honesty is a joy to read, and Bess would have been a fool to turn him down a second time.

   From a historical standpoint, this book is a glimpse into the everyday, pre-presidential life of HST. The respect and dignity this Missouri farmer had for the Office of the President is refreshing. I come away from the book feeling like I know Harry. Coupling Dear Bess with David McCullough's Truman gives a picture of the man and his times in a very compelling fashion.

   Dear Bess is a must-read for anyone who wants to know what love and responsibility are.




2. First of all, the potential buyer of this book should know that it will throw you back to the years when Harry, the lower-middle-class farmer's boy from outer Jackson County, was courting Bess Wallace, a moderately rich girl and young woman (albeit from a very dysfunctional family) from prosperous Independence. In the 1910s this was done, as it is done in every generation, but only with great difficulty and some soul-searching on both sides.

   So buy and read this book if you want to read about young Harry's epic quest. Bess' letters to Harry are lost, but Harry Truman's letters are so vivid that their contents can be partly reconstucted. The two were real soul mates in the end - in the true sense of this most over-used phrase. They could actually converse by letter. How many of us are so lucky?

   Buy and read this book if you want to see these two attractive people in the vanished world of 1910s Missouri. If you're looking for President Harry Truman, you won't find much of him here. By 1945 this pair had been married and living together for 25 years and were no longer writing daily letters to each other. But if you are one of those people who think that Truman was one of our greatest Presidents because he never forgot who he was and where he came from, you may want to know where he came from. He came from here, in this book.




3. This very personal look at young Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) should be of interest to history buffs and fans of our 33rd President. The book is primarily a collection of letters that Truman sent to his girlfriend (and later wife) Bess Wallace (Truman), the letters being found in her home shortly after she passed away at age 97 in 1982. Most of these letters were written by young suitor Harry Truman prior to the First World War, when he was a struggling farmer and she a desirable beau from a prosperous (if dysfunctional) city family. Sadly, Harry didn't save Bess' letters to him, and those are lost to history. In these letters Truman comes across as decent, honest, and intelligent - if slightly prejudiced against immigrant workers in Kansas City. If his presidential talent isn't evident in these letters, his sturdy Missouri roots clearly are.

No comments about Isis Mary Sophia: Her Mission and Ours.

No comments about The Thorny Rose of Texas: An Intimate Portrait of Governor Ann Richards.

3 comments about Dangerous Woman: The Graphic Biography of Emma Goldman.

1. Sharon Rudahl's "A Dangerous Woman" covers the life of a well-known anarchist around the turn of the century. Sharon's art is very appropriate for a fiery speechmaker; the plot as presented by Sharon never drags, and you get a book and a movie at the same time!
   
   I had heard about Emma Goldman, but my political youth was spent in the socialist movement, not the anarchist movement, so I never researched Ms. Goldman's life or work. One piece I found interesting was Ms. Goldman's opposition to the amendment granting women the right to vote, and why she opposed it. Since my grandmother was a prominent suffragette, I approached this part of the book with some skepticism, but it was presented with such passion that I found myself agreeing in principle with some parts of Ms. Goldman's philosopy on this particular topic. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, and it's difficult to go back in time to try to understand things with the perspective in effect at that time, but Ms. Rudahl does a fantastic job with her art of helping to build that paradigm.
   
   I found it difficult to put the book down, it was so entertaining, and in a way that enlightens. Emma Goldman didn't live her life as an audition for a reality show, so you probably won't get that kind of stilted melodrama from it. What you WILL get is a fascinating historical presentation with Ms. Rudahl's art, and a dialog that both complements the art and creates it's own story.
   
   A very fine book, and I heartily recommend buying it.



2. Emma Goldman is one of the big name names of American anarchists, as well as one of the earlier to contribute to free speech, birth control, and the labor movements. She was an amazing public speaker, something that is lost in this day of television and radio, and her writing still ranks amongst the classics of Anarchist thought for a free and just society. From her involvement in the shooting of Frick (though Alexander Berkman was a lousy shot) to free speech fights to labor struggles in Massachusetts to getting deported by Edgar Hoover, all the way to being amongst the first radicals to denounce the government of the Bolsheviks (which ostracized her amongst the left), and finally working to raise funds for the Spanish Revolutionary cause. She was jailed for fighting against the draft, advocating for birth control, and for "inciting a riot." In a lot of ways, the stuff she said then was visionary for the time period. She remains one of the most amazing people in history, and someone who gave her all so others could be free and live in a just world.
   
   "Dangerous Woman: A Graphic Biography of Emma Goldman" can be best described as a graphic novel version of "Living My Life", and it's a real treat. The artist, Sharon Rudahl, does a great job capturing Goldman's turbulent and unique life, growing from a fiery Jewish peasant girl fleeing Russia to an active Anarchist speaker and organizer hated by the government, to the patron-saint of the American Anarchist movement, though small by the time of her death. She spares no detail, especially the parts about Emma's sex life and her many partners over the years. One of my favorite scenes in the book is when she has been sent by her mentor, Johann Most, on a speaking tour "Against the 8 Hour Day" (it was too little and was too reformist and not revolutionary enough.) She encounters an older man in the Chicago stop of the tour who tells her that while he understands why young people would be impatient with small demands, but "I won't live to see the revolution. Will I never have a little time for reading or to walk openly in the park?" After this encounter, Emma vowed never to let doctrine or ideology get in the way of a good fight that brought real change to real people's lives. That's a lesson that a lot of radicals then and now could learn and take to heart.
   Today, the closest we in the United States have to an Emma Goldman is academics in ivory towers, as loud mouth voices in the sea of state and corporate rule. The speaking tours of yesterday is the youtube, internet, music albums and television of today, which is much more controlled than speaking in public used to be, though less prone to violent disruption by people who disagree with the author. It's hard to imagine a story like hers again where someone from such a humble beginning devotes her entire life, to the point where she refused to correct health problems like infertility, to the cause of fighting the existing order, and becoming such an international figure as she did. Maybe a new Emma Goldman of the internet or TV or music like hiphop will arise to become an inspiration to people's movements everywhere, like Subcommader Marcos in Chiapas has, or elsewhere. It's hard to say. Either way, check out Emma's life in graphic novel comic form, because she's a real life superhero in a way that Superman never could be.



3. I bought this to introduce Emma to a young lady and, after looking in it,
   decided it would cancel any interest she might have had. Stick to Living My Life and imagine the visuals.

1 comments about My Life with Che: The Making of a Revolutionary.

1. This book is an awkward translation of an old story told by Che Guevara's ex-wife being revived in English for anyone still interested in anything related to this myth. Other than to read the same old idealistic half truths, this book should be a guide as to what patterns of behavior in men lead to disaster if not death and suffering to others around them.
   
   This woman was at least more cultured and well read about politics and history than Che was. Misguided in her ideals about how Latin America should overcome poverty and corruption, she catapulted him to having intelligent opinions about the subject for the first time, and she introduced him to other people who influenced his direction. Before that, he had no direction and he had no real understanding of Latin American politics or anything else. He was an irresponsible adventure-seeking youth with no money. She simply helped him find himself and financed his adventures. She justifies his behavior throughout the book, even when he was selfish and inconsiderate with her and eventually their child.
   
   Since the book is translated to English so badly, it allows the reader to look past the flowery letters and it leaves you wondering why this woman allowed herself to be emotionally derailed by an unemployed, arrogant doctor. She gets pregnant and it's assumed that she has to take care of a child associated to all the risks his political activities brought them. If the future of that child had not been so grim, it is almost funny how these so-called heroes of the revolution always find time to get involved with women, have a bunch of children, and then abandon them in the name of whatever revolution they happen to be fighting. Well let's be clear that Che Guevara was no exception, and let's read other biographies to find out how his daughter ended up. I highly recommend Alina Fernandez's biography (Fidel Castro's daughter) and what it says about Hildita Guevara's life as she grew up.

No comments about The Little Book of Boris.