New book offers insight into Cuban leader Raul Castro

File photo of Cuban leader Raul Castro. [Photo/Agencies]

HAVANA -- A new book offers an "objective" look into the personality of Cuban leader Raul Castro, state daily Granma reported on Monday.

Written by Nicolai S. Leonov, who is a "dear friend to the Cuban President, the book "Raul Castro: A man in revolution" succeeds in "put(ting) together one of the most objective works looking into the personality of the renowned statesman," the daily said.

The illustrated book that contains some 80 photographs, some of which were never published before, "not only explores the army general's personal life, but also constitutes a valuable compilation of events which have marked the island over recent decades," according to the daily.

At the beginning of the book, Leonov wrote that in March 1978, during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Second Eastern Front, he heard Raul say, "We were able to make history, but to date we have been unable to write it." The book is an attempt to correct that, he added.

The book, available in Spanish and Russian, begins with Castro's birth on July 3, 1931 and ends on Dec. 17, 2014, when Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama surprised the world by simultaneously announcing that their countries would seek a thaw of relations.

Among the many moments captured in the book are Raul, barely six years old, in the arms of former dictator Fulgencio Batista; wrapped in a flag during the symbolic burial of the Constitution in April 1952; as a guerilla in the Sierra Maestra; at his wedding with Vilma; at the height of the October Crisis; planting a cedar tree as he did on every birthday.

Attending the launch event in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Raul's life is an example of "total and honorable service to his homeland and his people."