Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag

by Armando Valladares

Book Overview

Against All Hope is Armando Valladares' account of over twenty years in Fidel Castro's tropical gulag. Arrested in 1960 for being philosophically and religiously opposed to communism, Valladares was not released until 1982, by which time he had become one of the world's most celebrated prisoners of conscience. Interned all those years at the infamous Isla de Pinos prison (from whose windows he watched the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion), Valladares...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1893554198
• ISBN13: 9781893554191
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Encounter Books
• Length: 423 Pages
• Weight: 1.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Cuban communism

I've heard about how Castro was such an exceptional communist leader. How he saw they had health care and free education... This book takes away the coloured glass and shows him to be like any other cruel dictator. They tortured , starved and coerced those who had a different view of communism. It is a great book which shows that the true power that outshines this tyranny is Christs love....even for the oppressors who would choose to believe.

A book that you cannot put down.

A very horrible experience for this man, This they would never teach in school, The horrors this poor man had to endure under that tyrant is so disgusting, if only the intellect on the left would bother to clean out their laundry before being so critical of Cuban Exiles.

A hard book to read

When I read this book I had to put it down at least seven different times; the barbaric cruelty of the jailers was that upsetting. For little more than a token show of distaste for Marxism, Valladares was imprisoned under the harshest conditions imaginable. The mind numbing sadism goes on chapter after chapter until you can't imagine how a man could put up with it. Valladares, thru sheer faith and belief that he'll survive, finds a way to survive the drawer cells, the white room, the extended solitary confinement in total darkness, the sleep deprivation, the horrible food, the immersion in a lake of human excrement, the brutal beatings and having to witness fellow prisoners maimed and killed. His health, particularly his lung tissue, was permanently damaged. The description of his injury and its aftermath in the wake of his attempt to escape made me wince repeatedly. Having been on crutches 15 times myself I could feel his pain. God bless Amnesty International for helping to spring this guy. When I read about the excoriation that Ron Radosh and David Horowitz endure from their former communist comrades I want to suggest that the complinants go live in Cuba and ply their demogoguery there. Then they can do time in Castro's jails and give us their opinion about his glorious revolution. Read "Guerilla Prince" by Geyer as a compliment to this book; it's the story of Castro's life. Fidel, whatta guy. Valladares adds to the extensive record of what a horrifying sadist we have ruling an island prison 90 miles from our shores. All American communists-progressives-socialists should read this book, for perspective if nothing else.

An Enormously Powerful Book

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.

A long lasting hope in everlasting pain

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!

Valladares pulls mask off Castro regime

I heard about this book back in the 80's when George Will wrote an editorial entitled, "Not your basic beach book". I went a bought it, but never read it until this past month. I have read other prison memoirs, but this one is detailed, shocking and inspiring. It's hard to believe the Castro regime has lasted this long, given the inhumane treatment of its civilians simply for expressing ideological differences. Valladares is our modern day "Man For All Seasons" who weathers the storms and savagery of torture, isolation and starvation while never abandoning his principles or conscience. This is not for weak stomachs, but it is so compelling that it cannot be ignored. Validates the idea that there are "no atheists in foxholes". I am signing up today to join Amnesty International. Your voice can make a difference. If you want to know what Communism is all about, really all about, read, learn, and prepare to see and defend your liberties as never before. You will never take them for granted again when you're finished with this book.