Prize-winning author and journalist Norberto Fuentes was once a revolutionary: a writer with privileged access to Fidel Castro's inner circle during some the most challenging years of the revolution. But in the late 1990s, as the regime began sending its oldest comrades to the firing squad, he became A Man Who Knew Too Much. Escaping a death sentence and now living in exile, Fuentes has written a brilliant, satirical, and utterly captivating "autobiography" of the Cuban leader-in Fidel's own arrogant and seductive language--discussing everything from Castro's early sexual experiences in Birn to his true feelings about Che Guevara and his philosophy on murder, legacy, and state secrets.--From publisher description.

"This is an abridged version of a two-volume edition originally published in Spanish as La autobiografía de Fidel Castro"--T.p. verso.

I dismantle therefore I write - a prologue -- Bk. 1. Paradise of Others -- Pt. 1. Adventure of Being Me -- 1. Hurricanes of August -- 2. Boudoir in the Grass -- 3. Solid Transparency of Walls -- Pt. 2. Past of a Man Without a Past -- 4. No One Dies Before His Number Comes Up -- 5. State and Revolution -- 6. Basket of My Snakes -- 7. Military Organization with a Good Propaganda Apparatus -- Pt. 3. As Intimate as Christ -- 8. Power Yet to Be -- 9. Havana for the Last Time -- 10. Forests Move -- 11. How the Steel Was Tempered -- 12. Nomads and the Night -- 13. Republic and Its Capital Are My Boots -- Bk. 2. Absolute and Insufficient Power -- Pt. 4. Man Alone Can Do It All -- 14. My State, the Revolution -- 15. Republic from the Gallows -- 16. Rumor of a Besieged Plaza -- 17. Sacred Brethren -- Pt. 5. Power Is to Be Used -- 18. Is Defeat Such an Orphan? -- 19. Empire in Spring -- 20. Day Before -- 21. Visible Part of God -- Pt. 6. Like the Guide of the Horde -- 22. March in the Desert -- 23. Key Is in Dallas -- 24. Hearing Birds Pass in the Night -- Pt. 7. When This War Is Over -- 25. Night Falls in La Plata Alta -- 26. On Resurrection -- Last Will and Testament.