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

New York: Viking, 2008. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Jeffrey L. Ward (Family Tree). xiii, [5], 413, [1] pages. A Note to the Reader. The Bacardi Family Tree. Illustrations. Notes. Selected Sources. Photographic Sources. Index. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Inscribed by the author on title page. Tom Gjelten is a Correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) news. Gjelten has worked for NPR since 1982, when he joined the organization as a labor and education reporter. More recently he has covered diplomatic and national security issues, based at NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C.. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Gjelten and his colleagues at NPR received a Peabody Award in 2004 for "The War in Iraq". His 2008 book, Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause, is a unique history of modern Cuba, told through the life and times of the Bacardi rum family. The New York Times selected it as a "Notable Nonfiction Book," and the Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and San Francisco Chronicle all listed it among their "Best Books of 2008." Derived from a Kirkus review: The Bacardi rum dynasty had its origins in Cuba-and, writes NPR correspondent Gjelten, Cuba of a particular kind, nationalistic and proud. The 19th-century residents of Santiago were mostly Catalan businesspeople and artisans who were renowned for their work ethic and thriftiness. The Bacardi empire grew from a small shop, spearheaded by a light, dry, tasty rum. Thereafter it was tied up,with Cuban self-identity, celebrated by Hemingway and by countless Cuban intellectuals, diplomats and even dissidents. The far-flung Bacardi family was also well known for standing in opposition to the various tinhorn tyrants who followed independence, notably Fulgencio Batista. They also ran afoul, however, of Fidel Castro, whom most of the Bacardis supported to some degree or another, but who moved to nationalize the rum industry. A solid, journalistic treatment of commercial and political history.