When Fidel Castro died a few weeks ago, instead of writing a one-sided piece full of empty rhetoric and overblown hyperbole, Loomis did what historians do. He wrote a lengthy, semi-scholarly blog post that reflected on Castro’s life and work in an evenhanded, dispassionate way. In Castro: It’s Complicated, Loomis spoke candidly of Castro’s many flaws and failures, but he also mentioned some of the positive contributions Castro made to Cuban life and society. The post was an interesting read, intended to educate and inform readers, and certainly not a leftist screed or a work of political propaganda.