The Cuba Project: Castro, Kennedy, and the FBI's Tamale Squad

This is an interesting though biased account of American-Cuban relations during the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administration. This nonfiction work digs deep into Havana when American mobsters ran casinos in the 1950s as Hollywood stars loved pre-Castro Cuba as a playground in which they could buy anything including items illegal in the States. The odd events take a twist with the formation of the FBI Tamale Squad (don't ask why) as an anti communist move loaded with plenty of money and easy for Castro to place moles inside it. Looking back, Castro was the moralist kicking out a hedonistic dictator, gangsters and depraved wealthy Americans. Though lacking the points of view of Castro and his loyalists, Peter Pavia has written an intriguing look from the perspective of the Cuban exile and American participants (including the CIA) in their efforts to remove Castro from power circa 1959-1963 especially with the Bay of Pugs fiasco. THE CUBA PROJECT is also much more as Mr. Pavia also presents a cautionary undertone that leads readers to ponder perhaps America is repeating many of the same errors today. Harriet Klausner

A great historical non fiction account of the Cuban American diplomatic debacle of the late 50's early 60's.The Cuba project is a great read, written in the classic hippster style Peter Pavia now seems to own.The Cuba Project is full colorful characters reminiscent of his first novel Dutch Uncle (another great read)Hoover's FBI agents,Castor spies,mobters, and hollywood stars at the end of thier rope, only these people actually existed.With such legendary story's of the tamale squad's not so covert operations to the half baked delusional doughnut army and Castro's bath tub regata.It also tells the story of the FBI and CIA's lack of communication with each other. Sound familiar? Oh how time's have changed. Even the authors notes are worth reading,funny absolutely.If only my history prof were as cool as Peter Pavia, I might had made it to class.