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The Origins of the Cuban Revolution Reconsidered. By Samuel Farber. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. xiv, 212 pp. Cloth, $49.95, ISBN 0-8078-3001-1. Paper, $19.95, ISBN 0-8078-5673-8.)
Almost half a century ago, a profoundly radical revolution transformed Cuba. "The movement that put that revolution in power in January 1959, however, was far from radical at the start. Its shared goals were ousting Fulgencio Batista, who had assumed power in a military coup in 1952, and creating a stable democratic government that respected the progressive Constitution of 1940. Yet from January 1959 to the spring of 1961, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, a very different revolution took root in Cuban society. That revolution transformed Cuban society in ways unimaginable on the eve of its victory. It obliterated the ruling class, dissolved the national army, and virtually eliminated private property. The...