THE past 250 years have seen a tsunami of revolutions — the American, the French, the Chinese, and imitating them, the Cuban. Their waves swept across the world, impacting us today and, as Chairman Mao Zedong predicted, they will affect tomorrow’s history. This year, friends of America celebrate its first 250 years; its detractors see them as its last 250 years. America enjoys the pre-eminence that capitalism promised — at a Faustian price, redeemable in US dollars. America is discomfited by Russia, a perpetual migraine; China, a recurring malaise; and Cuba, an irritating thorn in its side.

A recent book by Simon Hall — Three Revolutions: Russia, China and Cuba (2025) — examines the genesis of their social upheavals. Interestingly, he links them to three writers (all American) who happened to be in the right place at the right time: John Reed, who in 1917 witnessed the ignition of the Russian Revolution; Edgar Snow, who met Mao and those who had survived the gruelling Long March of 1934-35; and Herbert Matthews, a New York Times correspondent, who in 1957 wriggled into Cuba and watched Fidel Castro’s underfunded but determined bid to depose Gen Batista. The three wrote accounts of their experiences and interaction with leaders, especially Lenin, Mao and Fidel........

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