Babalu Blog: Everyone's a Critic: Feedback

December 02, 2007

Everyone's a Critic: Feedback

A few weeks ago, I posted on the book, El Americano. Today Aran Shetterly, the author of same, answered my comments:

Dear Sirs,

First, thank you for taking the time to review my book "The Americano."

However, I have to say, that I think you misrepresent it's "take" on the revolution. One of the reasons I wanted to write the book, apart from Morgan's amazing tale, was to "show" not "tell" the revolution. I interviewed scores of people on all side of the debate, read books and articles from all angles, and presented this particular story as clearly as I could.

The point that the revolution has been airbrushed here is almost silly: I talk about the executions in great detail, about the tribunals that were sad excuses for trials, and in the end, we see a man executed who did not have blood on his hands.

What I do, and what most writers about Cuba do not do, is allow the readers to make their own judgements. Rather than put damning adjectives everywhere, just tell it. 20/20 hindsight is easy. Getting a feel for how complicated choices were in the moment is a much more difficult task. And, keeping an open, less judgmental mind when looking at people who were trying to do the right thing, even if it ended up being wrong in the end, is even harder.

sincerely,

Aran Shetterly

December 2, 2007 2:11 PM

My reply is below.

Thank you for addressing my humble comments, even if we disagree. I mean it sincerely. I understand the amount of effort entailed in a work like yours.

However, I am forced to stand by my commentary. That there are errors of fact, I know. The ones I didn't mention or missed were pointed out to me, none too gently, on the other blog where the book note was published. I will copy and paste your comments on that one also. The URL is Babalublog.com.

If you note, I recommended your book to those who know the history and are not going to develop apoplexy at a different perspective. It is a fascinating story, and I am grateful that you made it widely accessible, but therein lies my problem with the work.

Take the smallest of inaccuracies, one of the quotes I highlighted in the post,the one which reads

"They hungered for a virtuous political culture that would root out the corruption, the prostitution, the violence, and the gambling, which had dogged their country for so long."

True, they presented themselves as bearded paragons of civic virtue. But you make it seem as if all of Cuba was a cesspool of prostitution, violence, and gambling, instead of a portion of the capital most Cubans did not frequent. This is important because Americans, as a general rule, have no idea what Cuba was like preRevolution, except what they read. Anyone under the age of fifty would have very little knowledge of the actual conditions. And historians have bought into the Castroite myth of the horrible Cuban past, despite a plethora of statistics to the contrary. All feed into this thinking that Cubans aren't that bad off compared to...say, Haiti or Mali, a perception that minimizes the absolute and utter devastation the revolution has wrought upon the island. This is obviously important to me, as well as to public perception of Cuban Americans and Cuban policy. And that's just one point.

I am not so unsophisticated as to demand nasty adjectives for the fidelistas. I do know that there are very many other, more subtle ways, to skew the reader's perception. If you are really interested and have not done so already in what was obviously exhaustive research, I would invite you to visit the Morgan section at latinamericanstudies.org, particularly the following: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/morgan/martino.htm

Again, thank you for your commentary, and if I can just get you to stop and think with what presuppositions about Cuba, the revolution, etc...you approached the book, what you had been taught, I will be content, even if you ultimately don't agree with my perspective.

December 2, 2007 4:10 PM

Posted by rsnlk at December 2, 2007 04:11 PM

Comments

Just turned it in to my local public library: Morgan was not a commie, a missfit who was kicked out of the Army, left a child and wife in Ohio and somehow got into gun running for the rebels and then joined them (that was not too clear), he showed leadership and was quickly promoted, pal with Menoyo, always disliked Che for being a commie, castro first asked how much it would cost to pay off the gringo so that Morgan would just live Cuba after the so called revolution, so Morgan, who had a strong following in the Escambray, ripped off Trujillo (Chapita) for $75000 when he double-agent him into sending an invasion to Cuba, that really costed him his life when later castro made deals with Chapita who wanted Morgan snuffed, maybe since Morgan was not that fluent he could be excused for being naive about the whole thing and not realizing that after the US stripped him of his citizenship he was playing with fire and that castro himself was a firm commie, Morgan re-married in Cuba and had a child, his Cuban wife lives in Ohio, would I read it again? no, 2 out of 5 stars..

Posted by: Doorgunner at December 2, 2007 05:24 PM

One of the factors that I would normally find amazing, if it were not so dismaying, is how the typical American describing pre and post-castro Cuba feels the need to present supposed arbitrary facts in order for an uninformed person to form an opinion regarding the subject. Most of them seem to approach the subject as if it were possible for it to be vile to one group, and a God-send to another.

The real facts indicate that the so-called revolution benefited only those who were part of the elite ruling class of castro & co. Everyone else in Cuba got the proverbial short end of the stick unless of course, they were fortunate enough to be allowed into the inner circle by virtue of their blind obedience to the dictator.

This refusal to apply any moral relevancy to the murderous and evil rule of the castristas in Cuba is reminiscent of the many who in the late 1930's would commend Mussolini for having the trains in Italy run on time, while ignoring his fascist rule.

Posted by: albertodelacruz at December 2, 2007 05:44 PM