27 NOVEMBER 1993, Page 35

G. Cabrera Infante

Fidel Castro by Robert E. Quirk (W. W. Norton, $35). The definitive biography of Castro and his regime. Or all you wanted to know about the Maximum Leader and were afraid of being told.

Culture of Complaint by Robert Hughes (OUP, £12.95). The politically correct shown as Mao's Cultural Revolution in Academia Now!

The Faber Book of Movie Verse edited by Philip French and Ken Wlaschin (Faber £20).

For those who think that words on the screen must be heard but not seen.

Whistling in the Dark by Richard Mabey (Sinclair-Stevenson, £9.99). Listening to nightingales in the evening.

The most underrated book of the year: Who's Who in Hollywood (Parragon Books, £10). The best biographical dictio- nary of modern movies since Ephraim Katz's fade-out.