This biography of the revolutionary Fidel Castro presents a full description of the charismatic leader who, for more than three decades and over eight American Presidencies, has managed to sustain a communist regime in the western hemisphere. The prize-winning historian Robert Quirk tracks Castro's rise to power and subsequent tenacious career. Quirk examines the CIA-directed Bay of Pigs invasion, Castro's role in other Latin American revolutions and the Cuban missile crisis. His account of the Castro regime comes up to the present and provides firsthand observations of Cuba today.