Introduction: The emergence of a revolution -- Permanent crisis: the trajectory of the revolution -- Benefiting from the revolution: the 1960s -- Living the revolution: participation, involvement and inclusion -- Thinking the revolution: the evolution of an ideology -- Spreading the revolution: the evolution of an external profile -- Defending the revolution: dealing with dissent -- Rescuing the revolution in the 1990s: crisis, adaptation and the return to basics -- Epilogue: Fidel Castro and the question of leadership