Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
Against All Hope : The Prison Memoirs of Armando Valladares
by Armando Valladares, Andrew Hurley (Translator)
*****An Enormously Powerful Book April 25, 2000
Reviewer: David C. from Los Angeles, CA
I am gratified to learn that this book is soon to be released in paperback. I read the hardback version about 13 years ago,
and it was a very moving experience. This man's story constitutes an indictment of Castro's regime very similar to
Solzhenitsyn's indictment of Soviet Russia in The Gulag Archipelago. There was no right to trial, just imprisonment on the
word of an unknown informant. In many ways, the treatment of the Cuban prisoners was more cruel than the Gulag, because
Castro did not have the aid of a harsh climate to kill his enemies. I will never forget reading that two groups as disparate as
homosexuals and Seventh-Day Adventists were both alike consigned by Castro to his prison camps.
The recent Elian Gonzales controversy, although a very complex and tragic situation, revealed that most Americans have no real grasp of the nature of Castro and his regime. I wish this book were required reading for all Americans. -- This text refers to the Paperback edition.
******************************* *****
A long lasting hope in everlasting pain August 11, 1999
Reviewer: paulcahen@hotmail.com from England
Armando Valladeres, a man not many people have heard of, wrote this account of the acute sufferings in Cuban prison camps
during a period of history that can only be described as without hope. The story that is told, is a story of one man's release
from solitary confinememt and the worst immaginable conditions a man could ever endure. From the very first page, the
reader is posed a moral question: Is this one man's struggle against an oppressive regime or is it man's srtruggle against
brutality,torture and hatred? This is a book to remember. This is a story which God revealed to Castro and the world. This is
a book which remains engraved on my heart and soul. It is a book to rest on your bookshelf alongside "Papillon" and Primo
Levi's "If this is a man". Viva Valladeres! Viva la Libertad!
***************************************** *****
This is the best, most inspirational book I have ever read! June 30, 1999
Reviewer: A reader from New Mexico
A reader from New Mexico The best book I have ever read! Maybe it was the time of my life that I found it. I have read
many others since and though, I would not say, this one is so much better, still I can't think of a better book overall.
It is so much of an inspiration. His 22 years in Cuban prisons. In the end, good triumphs over bad, one man, Valladares. I read this book in 1987, lost my copy and then bought another copy last year. Now, how many books would you say you would do that for?
I have spent alot of time in and near Mexico and I can speak Spanish. The Latin Culture has intrigued me. In my younger days, I tried to understand both sides and be objective. Now, though, this book is an indictment against Castro and others in Cuba. I can never look at a photo or speech of Castro in the news and not say, "I know the truth!"
*************************** *****
Armando inspires those who dare stand against communism. June 22, 1998
Reviewer: alpha66nj@hotmail.com from New Jersey, USA Reading through the pages of this book, I felt stronger than ever, the convictions of those who struggle to free Cuba. VIVA CUBA LIBRE!!! --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. (out of print)
*****************************
Armando inspires those who dare stand against communism. June 22, 1998
Reviewer: alpha66nj@hotmail.com from New Jersey, USA
Reading through the pages of this book, I felt stronger than ever, the convictions of those who struggle to free Cuba. VIVA
CUBA LIBRE!!!
*******************************
This book will show you how cruel Castro really is... April 28, 1998
Reviewer: abelc@microsoft.com from Redmond, Washington
If you ever wanted to know more about the horrible crimes that are still happening in Cuba's prisons, this is the book for you. Also, this book will show you how the human spirit can be the factor that will decide your survival "against all hope". A similar book is "I will die free" by Noble Alexander. Both are very impressive.
*****************************
Fantastic eye-opening book! April 8, 1998
Reviewer: woodbug@aol.com from San Francisco CA
This is a must read if you want to understand more about Cuba and it's political prisoners. This book is not only a page
turner but it is full of hope and inspiration. A true testament to the power of the human spirit. Get it, read it, and learn more
about how Castro runs his jails. --
*******************
makes you feel pain, passion, rage and love February 6, 1998
Reviewer: lowdert@citrine.indstate.edu from terre haute, IN An excellent biography of one man's fight to survive and maintain his humanity while in the depths of mankind's most torturous depths. Gives those who never had a chance to speak of the horror of the loss of freedom a chance to be heard. Should be required reading.
*******************
A stunning documentary from the inside of Cubas Prisons July 31, 1997
Reviewer: A reader
This book presents the truth about the Communistic regime of Cuba. It reports about the terrible conditions in the Cuban
prisons, the biological experiments performed on the prisoners, and the ruthless killing of Cuban dissidents. What make this
book so catching, is that Armando Valladares never gave up, never lost his faith, even though most of his friends died in the
prisons. This book gave me fantastic insight about how the communistic society works
Please give your review.
I think our education is sorely lacking about Cuba.
Please keep this bumped.
If a clearer understanding of the how Cubans are suffering under Castro, is the only thing that is rescued in the end, from Elian's escape from Communist Cuba,
we need to take it, guard it and spread the word.
BUMP!
I have a copy, and it's harrowing reading. The "drawer cells," for example - imagine a chest of drawers with people in it and you get the idea. Incredible story. Anyone who calls Cuba a "Workers' Paradise" would be rapidly cured upon reading it.
Thank you Billthedrill.
I hope everyone who has read it will add one thing that stuck in their mind about this book.....about life under Castro.
I haven't read this book, but Cincinatus has (he gave away his copy a long time ago). Here are his comments:
"I remember the book being important not so much for what it says (after all, there's nothing in here that isn't also documented in a hundred other memoirs of prison life under communism, notably the works of Solzhenitsyn), but for its timing and the context of the early seventies. In those days, anti-communists were on the run -- we had abandoned Vietnam to its fate, Pol Pot (the poor man's Hitler) was running amok in Cambodia, an ill-advised detente with the USSR masked the true hideousness of that regime.
Valladeres dared to show the world Castro's true face. It was a picture not many wanted to see -- and apparently, still don't. But it's impact, especially among the nascent conservative movement on campuses was astounding. Then, "radicals" (the 70's euphamism for "communists") were very much in control, a tendancy that has gotten worse with time. Books like Against All Hope validated everything that we always believed about Castro. Ever since, I've never had the slightest doubt that our national policy should be, now and always, the complete destruction of that little bastion of Stalinism. More's the pity that it isn't."
BTTT!
Will be going on my 'must-read' list.
Thanks and bump!
"Ever since, I've never had the slightest doubt that our national policy should be, now and always, the complete destruction of that little bastion of Stalinism. More's the pity that it isn't."
100% total agreement to Cincinatus...and 100% heartfelt gratitude for all you have contributed, CW, to informing and motivating and inspriring this fight for freedom for Elian, and for All Cubans!
fight for freedom for Elian, and for All Cubans!
Understanding Communism and Castro will be what kills Communism.
Democrat-Socialists from our own government, admiring and supporting a dictator and pander to a philosophy that enslaves people,
is not what will save the Cuban people anymore than it has saved American people who think dependance on government will set them free.
"Understanding Communism and Castro will be what kills Communism"
Yes. May the people of Cuba treat Fidel Castro and his chief lieutenants to the same fate that met those other favorit Communists: Cousesceau and his love wife Bruno.
Thank you CW! This is the book that really opened my eyes up about Castro's Cuba. I knew instinctively that it was a murderous thugdom, but somehow reading of the horrific tortures done on a real person, just like you and I, hammers things home.
Many times I sat there on the verge of vomiting, and alternatively on the verge of tears, as I read passage after passage of the tortures of Castro's monsters.
I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who is interested in a real look into the black soul of communism. Valladares was vilified after release by Castro's agents in America. They ridiculed him and accused him of fabricating the tales of his torture. Sadly, the smear campaign had some success, as there are so many useful idiots here in America.
Again: BUY THIS BOOK! READ IT! You will never be the same.
Thank you so much for your review.
anyone who is interested in a real look into the black soul of communism
It better be many, because we're getting A REAL GOOD LOOK at how many people in our government, media and schools have been pulling us into Communism.
I think our education is sorely lacking about Cuba.The establishment wants to keep it that way.
And sadly, too few seem to notice or care.
BUMP
Sometimes it feels like we're tapping back and forth to each other on the prison cell walls.
It can get depressing allright, but then people like you come along and make things a little better :) Thank you for understanding the deep hatred the cubans have for castro. When your loved ones have gone through that kind of torture, there is no way you could ever think of "dialogoue."(sp)
Thanks for posting this book review, I will buy it and share it with my family so that they will not be deceived by the American media love affair with a Communist dictator, Castro.
BBTTT
When your loved ones have gone through that kind of torture, there is no way you could ever think of "dialogoue."
Bump!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
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