Share <Embed>

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon or get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

Arrives: Thursday, Jan 28 Details

Fastest delivery: Monday, Jan 25
Order within 12 hrs and 37 mins Details

In Stock.
As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app.

Ships from	Amazon.com
Sold by	Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon or get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

Used: Like New | Details

Sold by AYDEKE

Fulfilled by Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

$18.48
+ Free Shipping

Sold by: -Book Bargains-

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Armando Valladares

Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag Paperback – Illustrated, April 1, 2001

by Armando Valladares (Author), Andrew Hurley (Translator)

96 ratings

See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$9.99

—

Paperback, Illustrated

"Please retry"

$16.95

$12.94

$3.74

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 suffered endless days of violence, putrid food and squalid living conditions, while listening to Castro's firing squads eliminating "counter revolutionaries" in the courtyard below his cell. Valladares survived by prayer and by writing poetry whose publication in Europe brought his case to the attention of international figures such as French President Francois Mitterand and to human rights organizations whose constant pressure on the Castro regime finally led to his release.

Frequently bought together

Total price: $42.94

Buy the selected items together

This item:Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag by Armando Valladares Paperback $16.95
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details
Exposing the Real Che Guevara: And the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him by Humberto Fontova Paperback $16.00
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details
The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Lider Maximo by Juan Reinaldo Sanchez Paperback $9.99
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Humberto Fontova
234
Paperback
$16.00
15
Paperback
$954.83
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
854
Paperback
in Russian Literature
$17.35
Armando Valladares
29
Hardcover
68 offers from $1.94
Armando Valldares
12
Hardcover
$768.57
Barbara Demick
3,063
Paperback
$16.50

More items to explore

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Helen Prejean
306
Paperback
$14.50
Jeffrey L Staley
27
Paperback
$18.95
Mary Karr
510
Paperback
$14.59
J. D. Vance
20,848
Paperback
in Sociology of Rural Areas
$9.24
Anthony Harkins
156
Paperback
$21.63
Sam Giancana
631
Paperback
$15.29

Special offers and product promotions

Amazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

When Against All Hope first appeared, it was immediately compared to Darkness at Noon and other classic prison narratives about the resilience of the human spirit in the face of totalitarianism. Now, with a new introduction by the author, which tells of his life since prison and brings the story of Cuban dissidence up to the case of Elian Gonzalez, Against All Hope is more relevant than ever.

About the Author

Armando Valladares was a political prisoner in Castro's Cuba for twenty-two years. After international pressure led to his release, he came to the United States and served as Ambassador to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations during the Reagan and Bush administrations. He spent many years in Madrid and now lives with his family in Miami.

Product details

Publisher : Encounter Books (April 1, 2001)
Language : English
Paperback : 428 pages
ISBN-10 : 1893554198
ISBN-13 : 978-1893554191
Item Weight : 1.38 pounds
Dimensions : 6.12 x 1.29 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #252,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #137 in Historical Latin America Biographies
- #154 in Central America History
- #621 in Communism & Socialism (Books)

Customer Reviews:
96 ratings

Start reading Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Customer reviews

5 star		78%
4 star		13%
3 star		6%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		3%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Area man

Read it, and tell the truth to anyone confused about Castro.

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2016

Verified Purchase

Purchased and read this book in 2003, but only now writing a well deserved review in the light of the tyrant's demise. Apparently those confused, or perhaps just waxing revisionist, about Fidel Castro, (like the Prime Minister of Canada, no less) have never read "Against All Hope". My daughter has also read this book and I encourage anyone confused about the truth of Castro to read it. It is an unflinching record of unspeakable brutality administered in response to even the most minor of dissents inside Castro's island prison. Armando Valladares explains what it is like to be alternately beaten, starved and isolated for 22 years by this embodiment of evil that is now apparently remembered with a measure of respect, if not fondness, by more than a few on the left. "He provided universal healthcare and education", they will report, without even a hint of irony or embarrassment at their justifications. I read about another famous dictator once who made the trains run on time.

14 people found this helpful

Helpful

Little Miss Fun

There is a special place in hell reserved for monsters like Castro.

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2016

Verified Purchase

I loathe communism and I have no respect for those who do. I also have no respect for those who like and romanticize Castro. This was an extremely difficult read. The author refused to support Castro and because of that, he was a prisoner under dreadfully harsh and gruesome conditions. Reading about what those prisoners went through was heartbreaking to say the least. Their strong, unshakeable religious faith was incredible.

“I was utterly exhausted. The lack of sleep and the tension were seriously affecting me. I sought God then. My conversations with Him brought me a spiritual strength that gave me new energy. I never asked Him to get me out of there; I didn’t think that God should be used for that kind of request. I only asked that He allow me to resist, that He give me the faith and spiritual strength to bear up under these conditions without sickening with hatred. I only prayed for Him to accompany me. And His presence, which I felt, made my faith an indestructible shield.”

As a result of his wife’s efforts and human rights organizations, he was finally released after 20 years.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

TDP

Extraordinary historical record of political persecution under Castro

Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

No one of good faith who reads this memoir will remain unchanged. The record of atrocities, misery and suffering inflicted on political prisoners in Cuba deserves to be read in every generation as a reminder of the horrors inevitably accompanying totalitarian Communist regimes, of the silence with which they were received by the UN, governments and organizations that should have opposed them, and of the hideously cynical efforts by so-called journalists, academics, and intellectuals to deny, denounce, and deflect the prisoners’ accounts of their plight solely because of their sympathies for the dictator’s politics and hostility to the United States. There are still political and religious prisoners in Cuba, Venezuela, China, Russia, North Korea, Myanmar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and many other countries. Find out about their stories and tell others, demand and take action, and pray for their deliverance.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

J.L. Nesto

LIfe-changing

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

This probably one of the most powerful books i’ve ever read. The things that men and women like Armando Valladares went through in the Cuban prison systems is nothing short of horryfying. The media has made Fidel Castro out to be somewhat of a hero. There is nothing further from the truth. Armando Valladares is a true hero and deserves all the good life has to offer for his willingingnes resist and never accept communism no matter the cost. Even if it meant his death. During my time reading this book, I found it very difficult to complain about how my days went. Every time I got home and picked up this book, I knew, I knew that whatever complaint I had about my “rough day” paled in comparison to what Armando and his fellow prisoners went through. I thank God everyday for blessing me with the comforts and luxuries I that I take for granted everyday after reading this book.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Cheryl Charbonneau

Must read!

Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2016

Verified Purchase

"Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it." Today, in 2016 the romance of Cuba is in full display. Hollywood actors wearing Che shirts while taking vacations in Cuba, demonstrate the willful ignorance of castro's evil. The ignorance is not limited to hollywood's elite. President Obama's failure to discuss imprisoned dissents and many human rights violations during his trip is further proof of that deeply ingrained ignorance. The truth is found in these pages.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Nebti13

Autobiographical testimony to life under the Castro regime

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

This autobiographical testimony to life under the Castro regime in Cuba is inspiring and disgusting: inspiring in the view it provides of courageous men and women standing for truth against a vile dictatorship--often men and women inspired by faith in Jesus Christ; disgusting in what it reveals of the Castro regime's disregard for the rights of any opponent and its fear of Christianity. The truth is, all would-be gods like Fidel have cause to fear Jesus....

The story of the death of the Man of Faith in this book is one of the most inspiring examples of faith I've read. Armando Valladares, who is still alive at the time I write this review, is a man of immense courage, and his story should be taught right alongside those of Che and Fidel whenever the history of Cuba is recounted.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

James M

A Must Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2017

Verified Purchase

An amazing account of prison life in Cuba. One wonders how many are in similar situations in so many countries, especially persecuted Christians. A must read.

Sheila Jefferies

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2015

Verified Purchase

Expectations met.