"The Yankee Comandante", by David Gramm
This lengthy article in the May 28th "The New Yorker" is sub-titled "William Alexander Morgan's" Cuban exploits." It is a fascinating history, one of those that brings to mind the phrase "stranger than fiction."
As a devotee of this magazine for many years and one who finds many things to read that are appealing and exemplary articles at least several times a month, it would make no sense to mention them here on this blog. For those who choose to read the magazine it would not be worthwhile, and for those who don't it may not be so interesting.
This is an exception. It is the story of a young man(boy really) who is always rebellious and independent, naturally intelligent it seems, and who at age 15 leaves home and travels the U.S. on his own, finding many different jobs in many different places. One could say he preceded the exploits of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" if it could really be documented, but Morgan had no real political or literary beliefs at that age it seems. He was an adventurer. At 18 or so he joined the Army but was kicked out for non-conformity, but he did learn quite a bit.
Somehow at age 20, he decided to go to Cuba to join the beginnings of the Castro led revolution, believing that Castro was looking to overthrow a corrupt and vile leader(he was) and that Castro intended to lead a free country(at first he supposedly did). Somehow, he arranged for some semi-automatic weapons to be shipped with him to the country and when the rebels were barely 100 men strong, he found them in the remote area they hid in and was accepted after being subject to significant hazing and testing. At the time he barely spoke Spanish, and with his blond hair and American background he was completely unique.
Within a year he was one of four "comandantes" below Castro, joining Ché, Raul, and one other who is less well known.
I will end this teaser here. The article is about 30+ pages long and is a great read. This issue goes off of the newstand today or tomorrow but, as mentioned here a couple of months ago, the USPS has now totally destroyed the quality of our mail delivery so only received it here yesterday. If interested, you may need to rely on the internet or local library.
As a devotee of this magazine for many years and one who finds many things to read that are appealing and exemplary articles at least several times a month, it would make no sense to mention them here on this blog. For those who choose to read the magazine it would not be worthwhile, and for those who don't it may not be so interesting.
This is an exception. It is the story of a young man(boy really) who is always rebellious and independent, naturally intelligent it seems, and who at age 15 leaves home and travels the U.S. on his own, finding many different jobs in many different places. One could say he preceded the exploits of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" if it could really be documented, but Morgan had no real political or literary beliefs at that age it seems. He was an adventurer. At 18 or so he joined the Army but was kicked out for non-conformity, but he did learn quite a bit.
Somehow at age 20, he decided to go to Cuba to join the beginnings of the Castro led revolution, believing that Castro was looking to overthrow a corrupt and vile leader(he was) and that Castro intended to lead a free country(at first he supposedly did). Somehow, he arranged for some semi-automatic weapons to be shipped with him to the country and when the rebels were barely 100 men strong, he found them in the remote area they hid in and was accepted after being subject to significant hazing and testing. At the time he barely spoke Spanish, and with his blond hair and American background he was completely unique.
Within a year he was one of four "comandantes" below Castro, joining Ché, Raul, and one other who is less well known.
I will end this teaser here. The article is about 30+ pages long and is a great read. This issue goes off of the newstand today or tomorrow but, as mentioned here a couple of months ago, the USPS has now totally destroyed the quality of our mail delivery so only received it here yesterday. If interested, you may need to rely on the internet or local library.
posted by John Borden at 7:39 PM
1 Comments:
Right, this is an outrageously entertaining story. Of course, it doesn't end so well.
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