Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalists Weiss and Sallah (Tiger Force) use interviews with surviving revolutionaries to share the story of William Morgan, an American whose life was floundering in the U.S., but who redeemed himself in the fight to liberate Cuba from the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Much of the story focuses on Olga Goodwin (née Rodriguez), a Cuban student activist who fled to the guerrillas after the police sought to arrest her. In the subsequent months she met Morgan, falling captive to his charm and bravery, and they were later married in the Cuban mountains. Morgan was not a minor character in the revolution; he became a well-known, if short-lived, national hero in Cuba after the successful overthrow of Batista. But as Fidel Castro's revolutionary movement gained power, Morgan was arrested and executed, and Olga imprisoned. Olga lives today in the U.S., and Sallah and Weiss interviewed her extensively. They also make clear Morgan's flaws: he had at least three wives and several children by them; was court martialed by the U.S. Army, serving time in prison; and was employed by and associated with known mobsters. Though the tale does not end happily, it's a romantic and entertaining read. Photos. (Jan.) c Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A nonfiction account of an unlikely American hero in revolutionary Cuba that succeeds as both a thriller and a love story.While working at the Toledo Blade, Miami Herald reporter Sallah and AP reporter Weiss shared a Pulitzer Prize (with another of the Blade's reporters) for a series on Vietnam War atrocities that they expanded into their first book (Tiger Force, 2006). They also met a remarkable woman living in Toledo, a Cuban migr and former political prisoner whose story inspired another newspaper series and this book. When she was Olga Maria Rodriguez, she had fallen in love with and married a man who initially didn't even speak her language, an American named William Morgan who had found purpose in his difficult, directionless life by joining the revolutionary forces in Cuba to overthrow Fulgencio Batista. His experience in the U.S. Army had ended with him going AWOL, but his superior military skills helped him overcome the distrust of his Cuban comrades and earn the admiration of the country's citizenry, who were "hailing him as a hero of a revolution that was about to change the course of history." Yet there was tension in the revolutionary forces between Morgan's Second Front and Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, as the former remained committed to liberating the country and holding elections while the latter was consolidating power and turning the new government into a communist dictatorship. Even greater complications ensued as Morgan was recruited for a plot to assassinate Castro, turned double agent by revealing the plot to the targeted dictator while continuing to play along, and ultimately found himself stripped of his American citizenship and imprisoned by the Cuban government. His widow's memories help humanize a complicated and conflicted man whose story sheds fresh light on the pivotal period in U.S.-Cuban relations. Beyond the political implications and entanglements, the story engrosses with its fast-paced, plainspoken narrative. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
