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

This is a wonderful study of a family and its country. The Barcardi family proves out to be extra special and the author provides a great snapshot of the various stages of Cuban misfortune through Spanish and American imperlialism. The cause and effect insurrections within (all, but especially from Batista's coup to Castro's) are understandable and sad ... and it was wonderful to learn how the name Bacardi means so much more than Rum. Very interesting reading ... and a fine history lesson.

This is a terrific book. It tells the tale of 150 years of Cuban and Bacardi history without burdening you with more facts, personalities , and anecdotes than you need to understand the company. In addition to the story of th Bacardi family it is a fast overview of how and why Cuba got to where it is today. Like most good
journalists,the author can compress a story yet give you the feeling that you know all the important stuff that needs to be known. The Bacardi family and company (it is still privately owned)certainly ranks as one of the most interesting and liberal I have ever come across reading about big businesses. They were not Johnnies come lately in the battle for Cuban freedom both from Spain and the native born dictators who followed after the American invaders left the island. They supported and financed the
Castro revolution and then had to flee the country when he turned into a communist dictator. They then fought him from the Bay of Pigs to this day.
At a time when Cuban workers were exploited under Spain and then under Cuban dictators, Bacardi seems to have been an enlightened employer providing its workers with benefits and security far beyond others.When one remembers that the company prospered under a series of ruthless and corrupt dictators who turned Havanna into a mafia controlled enclave, they seem all the more incredible that they could remain clean while they had so much mud around them In fact, with the exception of the rare philanderer or less than bright family member, the Bacardi family over this 150 year time span seems extraordinary for their compassion, accomplishments, and sense of duty and honor. Perhaps too extraordinary. Reading through the book I had to marvel how so many people could be so good over so many years. They make the Rockefellers seem like heartless aristocrats. The author received, by his own acknowledgement, priceless assistance from various family members who gave him unique access to their history and records and, understandably, this may have tilted him in their favor. But even with its flaws it still remains a very important book.

I am Cuban-born, and have throughly enjoyed this book and am buying copies to send to all my children, one of which is NPR's Baghdad Bureau Chief. It is historically accurate, very well written, and portrays Cuba and the Bacardi family with knowledge and understanding. It is truly a brilliant achievement and recommend anyone who is interested in Cuba to read it.

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.

There has recently been a renewed interest in pre-revolutionary Cuba. This stems from the fact that Cuba today is so un-romantic, so poor and stricken with prostitution, that peopel want to understand not only the pre-history of Castro but also the time before Castro. This has given us new studies of the Mafia in Cuba (Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution) and recent books on the Americans who fought in the revolution. This book examines a previously unstudied subject, the history of the Bacardi family and Cuba. Most would have assumed the family, being some of the wealthier citizens of the island, would not have been Castro supporters or progressive in the least bit. But the truth is quite different. The patriarch of the dynasty was a fighter in the original war against Spain in the 1890s and by the 1950s they were disillusioned with Batista. This is an excellent history of this family and its biography, which in many ways is the biography of Cuba itself in this period. A very nice book that fills both a gap in history and sheds light on a fascinating story.

Seth J. Frantzman