In her debut, the author and professor Dr. Margarita Garcia has created a portrait of the man before he faced the "ocean of difficulties" of the presidency (as George Washington said when he was elected) that finally overwhelmed him. Developing her story through three continents, from being captured by a squad of Spanish soldiers, to prison in Spain and ingenious schemes of fund raising for expeditions of arms to the insurgents in Cuba, the book describes the intimate story of a patriot, a teacher, an idealistic revolutionary, a scrupulously honest man, and a stubborn president.