Ti:71(1E.1 Castro Momentarily Awatoped History Itself
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r-THE POOK I-1E170V 4••••■••••••■■•••■•■••■■■ ■•■■■-■••■■ • -7C • • • Chief Performer The fart Is that Catitro in Plusuit, of the has talked so much av Irn- presarin and chief perfor- mer no Cuban television that his style has at least Ti:71(1e.1 Castro momentarily awatoped history itself. In an almost. BY itfillEgT Jai RSCH sighing tone, Prof. Halper- arms ono trifle in writes, "'to untangle the moods and motives that Probably the one point Dr. Halperin. a political shaped Fidel's behavior on about which Marxists arid scientist and economist, a any given occasion can he anti-Marxists could agree Marxist though not dog- an enormously complicat- matic, seems an occasion in discussing recent Cu- ed matter." ", . • The sin- bemused by his subject. elder character of the Cu- ban blatory Is that Fidel After all, a man who ban Revolution . is an- Castro is unpredictable., plays baseball, and has the other way of saying the the Perk's Bad By of the locker room sense of hu- charaCter of. Fidel Castro; revolution. The question mor to go with it, who set for it must he clearly un- up a five-hour televised derstood that his personal- or personality and Its in- free- for - all conference ity, style and leadership fluenre on Communist or- with the prisoners cap- have dominated the Cuban thodoxy has always been a tured at the Bay of Pigs, Revolution se profoundly knotty one; dialectical 2nd kept his cool while as Louis XIV molded the materialiarn rinearint seem one prisoner accused him destiny of 17th-century of having "salted away to offer much room for the Franc e," Dr, Halperin lot of money in Swiss writes.. vagaries of character, the hanks," but who fell out I do not wish to leave the. Titns. the Mans, the Che with. virtually all his old impression that Dr: Hal- , Guevara& comrades of the revolution perin's study is slight or But of all Idkasyncraciee, and imprisoned or exiled solely light-hearted. There, Castm's seem deepest; his them, is not easily are many serious and m a r athon performances summed up. some surprising matters on television, his unex- The author is frank to• covered in deep detail. But p e elect pronouncements, say that his experience in: always there is the puzzle.: his Pirandello improvisa- Cuba was disillusioning. tions. It is no accident that The promise of Castro's. re- - - Zoniaits Told in THE RISE AND DE- volution, sold by his "tar- The narration, fni exam- CLINE OF FIDEL CAS- nished but unflinching ple, of the contacts be- TRO: An Essay in Con- charisma" would turn to tween Castro and Pres- temporary History (Uni- disappointment and fail- ident Kennedy, and later- versity of California Press: ure. After a President Johnson, seek- half-dozen ing a possible easing of re- • $1295; i l t n s trated) by years of close, personal ob- Prof. Maurice Halperin, lations between the two Castro is compared to Je- servation in Cuba' , Dr. Ha.17 countries, is both interest- .kylI and Hyde, Don Quix- perin found himself "intel- ing and informative. But ote, as well as Louis XIV lectually and morally t h e n, characteristically, ' and Simon Bolivar, The stranded." Castro kept Jean Daniel, a range of such similes can French reporter who went be summed up in the ques- This may color his feel- to Cuba with a message tion, "What next?" which. ings about Castro but it from President Kennedy, Halperin says, was asked does not affect his efforts waiting for three weeks in in Cu ha, in the United • to he fair and objective. In Havana On the night be- Sta:es aial in Russia, after the event, he has produced fore Daniel was to have the missile crisis of 1962. a portrait which seems as left, Castro suddenly visit- ed his hotel room .and Frustrated Effort accurate as any we have ' had, and immensely use- talked to him from 10 in Though this volume ful for American readers the evening until 4 in the. covers the first five years whose confusion a hou t morning! • of Fidel Castrn and the Castro Is the product of The implication is that if Cuban Revolution (with the extremes of propagan- we are ever to settle the some projections into the differences between following years—a second da which first made hint a • kind of liberating hero and America and Cuba, we'll volume is planned cover- then a mischievous villain. , need a Henry Kissinger ing 1)64-63), the question' The irony is that his char- ! who Is'a baseball player, a Is still being asked. acter is so variegated that practical joker, a drama.. At the core of this'book he provides evidence for critic and a master psy- by Dr. Hal perin, who any eeriea t ure. chologist. spent six years. from 1.0.6.11i to 1963, teaching at the University of Havana, it a' profound and sometimes frustrated effort to ask the real Fidel Castro to stand up .