Why do I fight here in this land so foreign to my own? Why did I come here far from my home and family?and#8230;Is it because I seek adventure? Noand#8230;I am here because I believe that the most important thing for free men to do is to protect the freedom of others.
and#8212;WILLIAM MORGAN, in a letter to Herbert Matthews at the New York Times

When William Morgan was twenty-two years old, he was working as a high school janitor in Toledo Ohio. Seven years later, in 1958, he walked into a Rebel camp in the Cuban Jungle to join the revolutionaries in their fight to overthrow the corrupt Cuban president, Fulgencio Batista. They were wary of the broad-shouldered, blond-haired, blue-eyed americanobut Morgan's dedication and passion, his military skill and charisma, led him to become a chief comandante in Castro's armyand#8212;he was the only foreigner to hold such a rank, with the exception of Che Guevera.

Vicious battles in the jungles were followed by victorious revelry in the cities. Morgan married a Cuban beauty. He single-handedly thwarted the Dominican Republic's attempt to overthrow Castro. And he was chosen to work with Castro and other high ranking Rebels to improve the quality of life for allpeople. This man who had lived under the radar in America was now a Cuban hero on the watch lists of several governments, all of whom wondered whose side he was really on.

It all ended in 1961, when, at age thirty-two, Morgan was executed by firing squad, at the hands of Fidel Castro.

Journalist Aran Shetterly takes us back to an era when democracy couldhave flourished in Cuba. He interviewed Morgan's friends and family and former Cuban Rebels, and examined FBI and CIA documents in search of the truth. What emerged was the true story of a young man who had never fit in but finally found his place in the world by fighting another country's war.

"Presidents have term limits; dictators don't. This only partly explains why Fidel Castro has outmaneuvered, outfoxed and outlasted every American president for almost half a century. But it's safe to say he's in his final decade now, and every publishing house wants to have a fresh Cuba book out the day he dies.

For many years, Cuba books were sweeping accounts of the country and... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) its novel system. Some of the cracks have been filled by recent titles, including' The Man Who Invented Fidel,' about Herbert Matthews, the New York Times reporter who interviewed Castro in the Sierra Maestra mountains, and 'The Boys From Dolores,' a look at Cuba through the eyes of Castro's classmates from his Jesuit youth.

'The Americano,' the latest entry in the Fidel sweepstakes, tells the story of a shiftless Ohioan who was so intrigued with the notion of a guerrilla war for freedom that he abandoned Toledo for Havana and joined one of the three major forces seeking to topple dictator Fulgencio Batista. His name was William Morgan, and, inspired by Matthews's romantic accounts of the revolution and his own misery at home, he arrived in the Caribbean's Sin City in early 1958, just shy of 30. His rise and fall over the next three years mirrored the larger trajectory of the Cuban revolution: nearly universal enchantment, followed by festering disillusionment.

The son of an electric company executive, Morgan was a cut-up as a youth. His classmates thought him mischievous and restless. Biographer Aran Shetterly calls him simply 'a teenage thug.' After dropping out of high school, he became a Merchant Marine deckhand, then enlisted in the Army, which shipped him to Japan. He spent most of his time in the brig for twice going AWOL and once beating up a guard. At 22, dishonorably discharged, he returned to Ohio a failure.

Morgan was a drifter for much of the "50s, taking odd jobs and working for lowlifes. In Florida he met anti-Batista Cubans and took part in supplying weapons to rebels on the island. He married, but this didn't affect his thuggery or wanderlust, two qualities he took with him to Cuba.

Midway through the 1957-59 revolution, three major forces were battling Batista's military. The mainly middle-class Revolutionary Student Directorate was based in Havana. Castro's 26th of July Movement occupied the eastern mountains. And the Second National Front of the Escambray (SFNE), called 'semi-gangsters' by Cuba historian Hugh Thomas, dominated the island's midsection.

Tethered neither to ideology nor to any particular strategy, Morgan ended up with the semi-gangsters, and the Americano's very gringo appearance, coupled with his attempted Spanish and his sense of humor, endeared him to his companeros. The fact that he could handle a submachine gun helped. He rose to the rank of comandante, trained incoming recruits, married again — this time to a comrade in arms — and headed his own SFNE military column, the Tigers of the Jungle.

'The Americano's' strength lies in explaining how the three anti-Batista forces constantly jockeyed for supremacy and influence; Castro eventually beat out the others by dint of both strategy and force of personality.

Morgan was far from the only U.S. citizen fighting Batista on the island. As many as 25 North Americans, including a few sailors from the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, signed on with the revolution during its final years. In Cuba, Morgan 'found a place where he could flourish,' writes Shetterly. 'He had reinvented himself as a Cuban hero.'

Once Castro took over, the Americano was awarded a retinue of bodyguards and a P.R. man, and he lived in a fancy house abandoned by a wealthy family. His daily wardrobe usually included four weapons. Working undercover for Fidel, he faked counter-revolutionary sentiments to flush out anti-Castro sympathizers, a successful operation for which he was admired by the public in general and by Fidel in particular. His chosen job in the new government was raising bullfrogs in the Escambray, which — ever a dreamer — he saw destined for restaurants, gift shops and cattle troughs. Soon, fearful of the anti-democratic drift of Castro's government, he became a genuine counter-revolutionary, a commitment for which he was jailed. His Caribbean adrenalin rush ended March 11, 1961, when he was executed by a firing squad.

Shetterly nicely weaves FBI, CIA and State Department files on Morgan into his narrative. He should have been as careful with other material. In his most egregious error, he misreports the circumstances and publication of the celebrated photograph of Che Guevara, then bases a theory about Che and Morgan on his mistaken story.

As for Morgan, his story has spilled over into the 21st century. Back in the "50s, the State Department stripped him of U.S. citizenship for signing on with a foreign army. Four months ago, at the urging of his since-remarried Cuban widow, who now lives in the United States, that citizenship was posthumously restored.

Tom Miller is the author of 'Trading With the Enemy: A Yankee Travels Through Castro's Cuba.' His 10th book, 'How I Learned English: 55 Accomplished Latinos Recall Lessons in Language and Life,' will be published later this month.

" Reviewed by Luz LazoTina McElroy AnsaMary HollingsworthRon CharlesVince RinehartJohn FerlingLuz LazoRobert PinskyJennifer HowardTom Miller, Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
(hide most of this review)

andquot;Brings to light a fascinating character, missing in the usual accounts of the Cuban Revolution, but well worth knowing as a piece of lost history.andquot;and#8212;Howard Zinn

andquot;A compelling history of one of the most intriguing characters and mysteries of the Cuban Revolution.andquot; and#8212;Ann Louise Bardach, author of Cuba Confidentialand coeditor of Fidel Castroand#8217;s Prison Letters

andquot;Filled with the suspense of a blockbuster war movie, offering new and insightful perspectiveinto the political climate of 1950s Cuba.andquot;
and#8212;PUBLISHERS WEEKLY,starred review

andquot;William Morgan was a figure straight out of Hemingwayand#8230;Was [he] a double agent working for Castro? Was he a CIA man?and#8230;Another seamy mstery of the Cold War."
and#8212;KIRKUS REVIEWS

At age twenty-nine, William Morgan left Toledo, Ohio, and traveled to Cuba to fight alongside Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in the revolution that would expel the corrupt president Batista from the Cuban government. At first, the Cubans were distrustful of el Americano, but Morgan's dedication and passion, his military skill and charisma, led him to become a chief comandante of the Revolution, the only foreigner to hold such a rank with the exception of Che.

After working at first for Castro, and then perhaps against him when it became clear that Castro had no intention of setting up a democracy ,Morgan was executed by firing squad at the dictator's hands. To this day, Morgan is considered a traitor by some Cubans, a hero by others.

By interviewing Morgan's friends and family and former Cuban Rebels, and examining FBI documents, what Aran Shetterly found were stories from an era when democracy could have flourished in Cuba and the true tale of how a young man who never fit in finally found his place in the world by fighting another country's war.

Aran Shetterly attended Harvard College and the University of Southern Maine, where he completed a master's degree in American studies. He is on the board of the Americans Who Tell the Truth organization and the Union of Maine Visual Artists, for which he conceived, organized, and ran an exchange between artists from Maine and Cuba. He lives in Mexico, where he and his wife founded Inside Mexico, an English-language newspaper.