TITLE: CASTRO'S FINAL HOUR: THE SECRET STORY BEHIND THE COMING DOWNFALL OF COMMUNIST CUBA
AUTHOR: ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
PUBLISHER: SIMON & SCHUSTER; 461 PAGES; $25
THE BOTTOM LINE: This well-reported, entertaining read shows, despite the title, why Fidel remains in power.
Reporting from a paranoia-mad communist country has never been easy, and these days Cuba is a more difficult assignment than ever. Most journalists do the prescribed, unenlightening rounds of officialdom in Havana, sneak off to see a few dissidents, then interview cab drivers or disgruntled locals in food lines. Honesty is like bread -- a commodity on rations. Oppenheimer, a Pulitzer-prizewinning...
