Product Description
This timely and provocative study provides a reexamination of the achievements and failures of the Cuban revolution, placing it firmly within the context of twentieth century Cuban history. Beginning with the inauguration of the republic in 1902 and addressing Castro's triumphant entry into Santiago de Cuba in 1959, The Cuban Revolution highlights the factors which made Cuba susceptible to revolution, including its one-crop (sugar) economy and U.S. interference in Cuban affairs. While identifying nationalism and the struggle for social justice as the legitimate forces behind the revolution, Perez-Stable also provides insight into the problems facing Castro's Cuba. Arguing that the revolution actually ended in 1970, she blames its defeat on the regime's profitable yet doomed dependence on the Soviet Union. She further charges that Cuba's leaders failed to diversify the country's economy, to sustain development, or to create democratic institutions.

Now in its second edition, The Cuban Revolution has been updated to include an entirely new chapter on the changes affecting Cuba's policies and economy since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the failure of communism in general. The second edition also includes a new preface, an up-to-date bibliography, and a thoroughly revised concluding chapter summing up the prospects and possibilities of Cuba's future in the twenty-first century. Ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in Latin American history and politics, The Cuban Revolution offers students fresh insights into the successes and failures of the Cuban Revolution. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

The best single volume account
Pérez Stable has done a masterful job. My students like the book for its fairness and balance.Her historical chapters present a more nunaced view of prerevolutionary Cuba than is usually the case. I recommend it for class adoption.

Another Brainwashed "Intellectual"
Perez-Stable is biased in blaming only the United States and the Cuban-American community for supporting the embargo. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The main reason the embargo continues is not because of US unreasonable demands toward Cuba, or the failure of American presidents to understand the issues at hand.It persists because the last thing the Castro brothers want is to open the eyes of an enslaved people to the outside world, especially to the fruits of capitalism and the American free enterprise system.

In addition, it is very convenient for tyrants to blame a common enemy for their nation's miseries while they continue to pilfer it, and the United States is the perfect escape-goat.

Ask yourself this question: Why is the lifting of the US embargo so vital to Cuba's communist interests when they can do business with the rest of the planet, more so when distance is unimportant and our world is getting smaller?

I suggest the author reads a 2007 Forbes Magazine article in which old Fidel comes out as one of the wealthiest heads of state second to Queen Elizabeth II with a billion dollars in foreign investments.

To the common sense reader who doesn't believe in the infalible wisdom of intellectuals: The Cuba of the last fifty years is nothing but an alligator-shaped island/farm owned and managed by the Castro brothers for their own enrichment. Communism--already an accepted failure--is just their excuse to continue ripping the country off.

Open your eyes, for heaven's sake, and stop calling Castro's unscrupulous betrayal, a revolution.

Andrew J. Rodriguez
Award winning author: "Adios, Havana," a Memoir.

Grossly inaccurate
Although the book does contain truthful and revelant empirical raw data, the author severely slants the truth (and even sometimes makes half-truths to the point of incorrectly naming Presidents) to the point of satisfying her own argument. Although Castro may very much enjoy her deptiction of the sustained need for socialism, my exiled family as well as my Cuban colleagues find the book disheartening as it weaves a fairytale for Castro as the glorious Savior of the Republic. The fact is that although the Republic did need change, it needed sustained political evolution, not revoltuion as found in the Castro regime. As my family is and comes from a family of Cuban politicians trying to advocate such change, her book is a tragic misinterpretation of those great ideals the infant Republic was trying to accomplish. If you are interested in knowing more about what actually occurred, not some socialist propaganda, watch Andy Garcia's movie The Lost City.

Falls a bit short.
Rarely does one find a book concerning the Cuban Revolution in which the author at least makes an effort to keep there political views out of the analysis.Marifeli Perez-Stable is no exception, as her book will either be praised by the left, or critizied by the right.In writing such a biased account her credibility is jepordized; not only because anyone with half a brain will realize this, but anyone with limited study in regards to the revolution see's many flaws.Amongst the most prevelant is the complete neglect of Cuba's "Counterculture" and the booming tobacco industry in Cuba throughout the 50's (she harbors on sugar as if every Cuban was either a plantation owner or slave).Hopefully Cuban books in the future will steer clear of political biases and present the facts, and only the facts.

A Good Book for anyone trying to understand the Revolution
This book provides an excellent background to social dynamics in Cuba before, during and after the Cuban Revolution, and does a good job analyzing its causes and consequences. It is indeed a must for anyonetrying to understand the Revolution. The right wing exile community inFlorida will not like this book because it is one of the few thatconsciously tries to be objective, but that should not dissuade otherreaders from purchasing this book. It is a bit too crammed with charts andstatistics in places, which makes it cumbersome, but those sections areskimmable. I will certainly use it in my undergraduate classes. ... Read more

Product Description
After Fidel Castro's guerrilla war against dictator Fulgencio Batista triumphed on January 1, 1959, the Cuban Revolution came to be seen as a major watershed in Latin American history. The three decades following Castro's victory gradually marginalized Cuba from the Latin American mainstream. But, as long-time Cuba observer Thomas C. Wright shows, the Cuban Revolution owed its vast influence in Latin America to the fact that--most evidently in its early years--it embodied the aspirations and captured the imaginations of Latin America's masses as no other political movement had ever done. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

And you thought you were paranoid before...
Overall, the amount of exposure American policy toward Latin America receives in the media is sorely lacking.The public remains ignorant of our government's role in shaping the internal politics of Latin Americancountries.Wright documents how the US government responded to the Cubanrevolution and the revolutionary/reformatory movements that arose as aresult of it in other Latin American countries.Avoiding sensationalismand sentimentality, Wright recounts how in instance after instance, Americachose to support pro-American governments while bringing about the downfallof anti-American governments, or any administration that might possiblyhave socialist or communist leanings.Although information dense, thisbook is both compelling and easy to read. ... Read more

Product Description
On August 11, 1961, at the age of ten, Yvonne M. Conde left Cuba in one of the world's largest political exoduses of children in history--Operation Pedro Pan. Between 1960 and 1962 over 14,000 children were sent out of Cuba alone by desperate parents who feared for their children's future under Castro. Unlike Peter Pan, however, these children continued to grow up even while separated from their families.

Yvonne M. Conde investigates the events and key figures surrounding the exodus, including the roles of the Catholic church and the State Department, and the extent of the CIA's involvement. As the children arrived in temporary camps in Miami, dedicated volunteers such as Father Bryan O. Walsh helped them find new homes across the country. Conde has tracked down hundreds of these children to tell their diverse stories--their uplifting, poignant, and sometimes tragic experiences in American foster homes and orphanages. Because she herself was a Pedro Pan child, others have opened up to her like never before to share their feelings about this painful time in their lives. Today, these children and their families struggle to heal the emotional scars of their long separation.

Writing with compassion and rare insight, Yvonne M. Conde uncovers the true tales of a little known episode of the Cold War. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Operation Pedro Pan
My family took in two of the Pedro Pan boys back in the early 60s.About 20 of them attended my high school, and I am still in touch with several of them today.The book was especially interesting years later as it offered a new perspective on what emotional turmoil these young people were going through at the time -- adolescence and displacement at the same time. What a burden they carried. The book was particularly appealing because my family is mentioned in one chapter.

Simply Wonderful
I am a Pedro Pan also, and I found Ms. Conde's book simply wonderful. As many of the other comments affirm, she wrote this book with her heart. I have read other books relating to the same subject, but this one is definitely the best. They were hard times, I didn't see my parents for 4 years, but I thank God, my parents and everyone else involved in the operation for making it happen. Recently I have been able to reunite with some of my old cuban elementary schoolmates still living in Cuba, and they all have stated that I was "one of the lucky ones". I am sure of that now!

Well researched
My mom gave this book to read to help me understand what happened to her as a child of Pedro Pan Operation. It was used a tool for her to let her finaly express her emotions and events that had happened to her. After reading this book she and I both realized how fortunate we are for the risk my grandparents took to send their children to the states. This book was well research and through with historical information. I found that the stories she added to book were really used to validate her reseach and her point of view. Overall its a pretty easy read and is good if you want to learn about the history of the Pedro Pan Operation. There isn't much of the human side of to the story.

Lies and Heartbreak: The Real Story of Operation Pedro Pan
The year was 1960 and the CIA codename for the plot was "Liborio." The plan was to undermine popular support for the new Cuban government, culminating in mass protests in front of the Presidential Palace where an assassin would make an attempt on Castro's life should he address a crowd of protestors.The plan involved the following elements:

1. Extensive sabotage and terrorist campaigns including blowing up transportation and electrical facilities and burning down big clothing stores.

2. Assassinating the leaders of various revolutionary organizations so that it would be blamed on the new government in Cuba.

3. The Catholic Church in Cuba disseminating a phony law, supposedly proposed by the Cuban government, called Patria Potestad law.The law would give the government of Cuba exclusive power over children, removing it from their parents.But the law never existed.It was to be written by the Church hierarchy and then denounced by priests from their pulpits throughout Cuba.

Yet readers can examine "Operation Pedro Pan: The Untold Exodus of 14,048 Cuban Children" and find no reference to this CIA machination.Instead one reads how the government of Cuba planned to take children away from the parents and to ship them en masse to the Soviet Union where they would be subject to unspeakable horrors.Yet this book provides no evidence that this "plan" was anything more than a vicious rumor, if not an outright psychological warfare project, that resulted 14,048 children being estranged from the families.

Although the book does catalogue some of the abuses many of the children endured, it hardly touches on the irony of parents sending their children away for fear that their children will be sent away.Undoubtedly, many of these parents were sincerely frightened because they believed the rumor.Yet many of the children of Pedro Pan did experience physical and sexual abuse, neglect, intimidation, and estrangement not only from their parents but also from their siblings who went to other foster homes and facilities in the USA.Some children were eventually reunited with their families; others never were.Still, on the whole it seems, most of the children ended up in homes where they received love and considerable attention.They developed relationships with their foster families that have lasted throughout their lives.Those accounts were quite moving.Still, as other reviewers have written, the survey results and questions are so dubious one wonders how the author lacked the shame to include them in the book.It seems clear that the author has a political agenda and she told the story of Operation Pedro Pan to accommodate it

The real story of the Pedro Pan children is a heartbreaking one, a tale made more heartbreaking by the fact that the entire saga was probably unnecessary.What lie, what political outcome, could be worth separating children from their parents?I cannot consider it without crying.

Final Analysis
Finally, a realistic review, by former Pedro pan from Camp St John in Jacksonville, presently "Chair of History and Literature"at NY State University, Dr. Roman de la Campa in his book, "CUBA ON MY MIND" juorney to a Severed Nation, published in London by Verso.
The author of "The Untold Story of Operation Pedro Pan" Yvonne Conde was not a part of the Unaccompanied Cuban Children's Program, was never at one of the camps, foster homes or schools. Perhaps this fact would not be important, except that she is not qualified to speak on behalf of the pedro pan participants. The questionaires she mailed out in order to back her own opinions, represent less than 3% Percent of the 14,048 Pedro Pans, and is not a random sample, therefore the results she states are invalid.She does not explain why certain questions were asked or avoided in the preparation of the questionaires. There is no quide to the interviews, which were unfortunatly quoted, edited, paraphrased or summarized and why. In that sense, Conde bypasses many principles regularly employed in sociological and statistical studies. The author warns that she quotes only the most representative samples of the testimonies gathered, but that single declaration may not suffice for a book that claims to represent all 14,000 Peter Pan Participants.
One of Conde's declared aims is to increase awareness of the Peter Pan ordeal in the eyes of the American public: another is to offer participants a historicalreenactementof what our parents must have gone through when they decided to send us out of Cuba alone. Both are laudable goals, but they have the tone of a self-appointed editorial mission on behalf of all the children involved. The testimonies she quotes and her own seem to be driven by a political project rather than a neutral voice organizing a collective memoir. The need to come to grips with a complicated national history that affected us was not at all helped by her manipulation of the information. This book is a shameful, embarrasing and manipulative exploitation of our saga. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
A young Cuban immigrant eases his homesickness by re-creating the city of Havana in a poignant tale that will resonate with readers today.

"You’re always drawing in that notebook of yours," Dino’s friend teases. To the small boy, 1950s Havana is alive with color, music, and glamour, and he itches to capture it on paper. When Fidel Castro and the Communist Party take over the Cuban government, Dino’s family must move to New York, where the lonely boy pours his heart into making a model of Havana’s archways and balconies, buildings and streets. Rosemary Wells composes a tender ode to an immigrant boy who grew up to be a U.S. architect, while Peter Ferguson’s atmospheric paintings evoke two vibrant cities as they were half a century ago. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Biased, but fantastic.
I may be significantly biased, as this is a fictionalized story about my father's childhood, but this is a fantastic book. Beautifully illustrated and fantastically written, this book relives a vivid story of the Havana as it existed without the shackles of Communism.

It is impossible to read this book without hoping that someday the beautiful buildings of Dino's Havana will once again flourish and thrive.

A Beautiful Memoir
Wells, a bestselling children's author was moved to tell Secundino Fernandez's story after hearing a 2001 radio interview with the architect. When Fernandez was a boy he and his parents had to leave his home in Havana, Cuba.

In 1954, Secundino (Dino) is six years old. He loves Havana and is constantly sketching the city buildings. Oct. 1954, is the first time the Fernandez family leaves Havana. The family moved to Spain for 3 years. Dino's father must look after his brother's family, while he recovers from a rooftop fall. Dino still carries a sketchbook but many times the pages stay empty. Dino misses home. At school Dino is teased for his Cuban accent. It's in Spain, where Dino first hears the word dictator and what it means to be ruled by one.

Abuela buys eggs and butter in secret from a man who hides them under his cloak and comes to the back door at night. Almost nothing from the outside, goods or medicine, ever makes its way into Francisco Franco's Spain. "Franco makes himself and his friends rich," says Abuela Maria "while the rest of us live on bread and water." She says this very softly as if someone might be hiding and listening.

In 1956, the Fernandez family move back to Havana. Dino's parents go back to work at the restaurant they own. In 1959 when Fidel Castro comes into power, its time for the Fernandez family to say good bye to Havana.

The book is filled with many facts and is very readable. I can almost see Fernandez sharing his childhood memories with Wells. I don't know where Ferguson, the illustrator was, but he couldn't have been very far. The gorgeous illustrations perfectly match the text. Also think they make My Havana that much more appealing to young readers.

There aren't many books for the 8 and older set that mention 1. Spain's dictator, 2. Castro and the ruler he overthrew, 3. Latino people come in many different hues and 4 . a look at Che Guevara, not as a good guy.

I feel like I really got to know Dino, the boy who loved to draw the buildings of his home country. My Havana is a wonderful memoir. I highly recommnand it.

Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children
During the first six years of his life, Dino Fernandez lived in Havana, Cuba - a city built by angels, as his father fondly liked to claim.Dino may have been even more enamored of the city than his parents.He especially admired the architecture and could spend hours drawing buildings, domes, and courtyards in his sketchbooks.

It thus came as a rude shock when a family emergency led Dino and his parents to leave Havana for Spain.For a two-year period marked by frugal living under Spain's dictatorial Franco regime, Dino struggled with intense homesickness as he longed for Havana's splendor and friendlier way of life. Upon returning home, however, he learned that Cuba's own political problems would make it impossible for his parents to continue operating their restaurant in Havana.Leaving Cuba permanently proved heart-wrenching for Dino until he found comfort in building his own kind of Havana.

Based on the personal recollections of New York City-based architect Secundino Fernandez, My Havana offers readers a unique glimpse of Havana and its inhabitants in pre-Communist times.The narrative blends in several economics concepts, including the economic role of government in socialist economies and the importance of small business opportunities for supporting household well-being. Exquisite illustrations add a visually appealing element and help readers to better understand Dino's attachment to Havana's culture and architecture.

... Read more

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Customer Reviews (8)

In order to read this book you have to know who Guevara really was
Guevara, Ernesto, 1998 edition Reminiscences of the Cuban revolutionary war. Monthly Review Press, New YorkISBN-10 085345227X ISBN-13 978-0853452270

One of the areas in which Guevara operated included family land.The trouble with this book is that it all based upon the diaries of Guevara, is that these reflect not the truth but the opinion of the author.For instance, when Guevara describes Rene Cuervo, if one takes the author's word for it, was a horrible person and a bad rebel.Now Rene Cuervo was a friend of mine and when I joined the Castro rebels sometime after he was executed I asked about him.To my surprise, El Mejicano Francisco Rodriguez Tamayo, anwered in a tone that brooked no question: "no hablas de eso" (do not talk about that).

In the years that have passed since then I began to look into the matter further. My conclusions after much investigation can be summarized in excerpts from my book in progress "Love and War in Cuba" as:


"In 1957, when I was still in school in Havana, my friend René Cuervo, it appears certain despite official Cuban government erasures of history, was in battle at Ubero (El Uvero) action fighting in the then Captain Juan Almeida's unit. However, after that Castro victory, he was assigned to guard the wounded.Unfortunately for Rene, because Almeida was wounded, he was under then Lieutenant Ernesto "Che" Guevara's orders. They rode a Babun truck laboring up very steep and rough unpaved roads part way up from sea level to the heights of Peladero at about 3,000 feet.At El Peladero the truck leaves and he is left with the walking wounded, and two carried on stretchers are taken higher up. A first hand witness states three of the wounded were carried on stretchers (actually hammocks strung on thick poles);even without relief stretcher bearers this effort would require six strong men as stretcher bearers. This last citation mentions five stretcher bearers, but obviously unless one end of one stretcher was somehow floating in air, there had to be at least six bearers.Even so the mountains are so steep on the southern side of the range the effort must have been exhausting.René Cuervo must have been exhausted, and one can be sure that the Che, who would use his asthma as an excuse for not doing anything he did not want to do,was only not helping but also threatening dire consequences if they did not move fast enough to please him. "

Reading about Guevara, and remember the word of mouth of other rebels about him "el se le aranca a cualquiera" he would kill anybody ... I describe Guevara's character as:

"After the action at Uvero, although Guevara was happy, Castro was not; too many, six, rebels were killed, plus those nine wounded rebels (not 8 in this source, why the two sources Barquin and Quirk do not agree is not understood) adds up to almost 12% in only twenty minutes. Guevara, as was his custom holds command not by charisma or leadership but by threatening his men with death penalty. Most who were familiar with the Argentine, give descriptions of his behaviors as a combination of Captain Bligh of mutiny on the British sailing vessel HMS Bounty,and the Queen of Hearts the Lewis Carroll character in: "Alice Through the Looking Glass" the one that kept screaming "off with their heads. " In addition to his readiness to execute his own people, that foreigner from Argentina commonly ordered the slaughter and eating of horses and mules.Manuel Fajardo Sotomayor -who should not to be confused with Dr. Manuel Fajardo--was one of Crescencio Perez's men at Ubero, who is said by Guevara to have once worked in a slaughter house and supplied the rebels with cattle, was a rarity among the Cuban country people in that he not only would he readily eat horse meat he was willing to butcher these animals. Guevara viewed eating horse meat as some measure of loyalty to him; taking notes of those who refused to eat it, a list that may well at some time or other have included René Cuervo.Guevara was also renowned for his lack of personal hygiene, all this breaking mores sacred to most Cubans since Taino times. "

Not only that but Guevara would extort money from the locals such as one of my grandaunts:

"Guevara soon afterwards, plans further murders of his own men, and sets up a formal disciplinary group, and in passing hits up one my relatives for $1,200(one third of the value of her coffee crop). Guevara demands a fee from her to collect her own coffee crop, and as his custom Guevara adds insult to injury by branding this "Sra. de Ramirez" as a collaborator of Batista, a charge that could have, but did not, result in her execution."

Thus to honestly evaluate this book one has to take into account the flaws in Guevara's character and understand what he writes is commonly selfserving.

History Stands Distorted
I question the validity of reviewer's remarks such as: "a great written record," "compelling," "enlightening," and "instructive." Give me a break!

Like most Cuban teenagers, I applauded and supported the revolution during its early stages. Fifty years later I'm ashamed of my stupidity and naivety.

To set the record straight; Guevara was a cold-blooded murderer who executed everyone who disagreed with his revolutionary ideals--furthermore, he did it shamelessly and without trial.

After the triumph of the revolution, Guevara's erratic behavior, mistyfing personna, and complicated phsyche, became a political liability and a personal threat to Fidel Castro who surreptitiously gave Che the notorious ultimatum: Bolivia or else.

Eventually, and after a protracted hunt, Guevara was betrayed by his own people and captured by the Bolivian military.
"Please I beg you to spare my life. I'm worth more alive than dead," Che's final words to the commander who executed him on the spot.

And here's the final count: From the twelve "revolutionaries" that survived Batista's persecution by hiding in Cuba's Sierra Maestramountains, Fidel and his brother are the only ones left. Guevara was shipped to Bolivia, Camilo Cienfuegos mysteriously died in a plane accident, and Huber Matos was incarcerated for treason. To make a long, painful story short, Fidel,(according to Forbes magazine) with a billion dollars in foreign investments, is one of the world's wealthiest heads of state second to Queen Elizabeth.

Socialist revolution? You've got to be kidding! These facts are the only ones that are instructive, compelling, and enlightening. The rest is rubbish.

Andrew J. Rodriguez
Award-winning author: "Adios, Havana," a Memoir

A great written record
I was compelled to read this book (and also Che's Bolivian Diary) after seeing the Soderbergh/Del Toro movie recently. I've read some recent reviews saying this book was boring but I don't agree, mainly because I've become so interested in Latin American history. I found it to be an intriguing account of Che's collaboration with Castro in Cuba.

From plan to victory.
Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War is Ernesto Che Guevara's combat diary. He recorded the day ins & day out's of life in la sierra maestra. Che Guevara writes about the war that could never had been won if it hadn't of been for the dedication & sacrifices made by the people in la sierra maestra.

Enlightening
Che goes through memories of the Revolutionary War in Cuba. His writing style is engaging and interesting. ... Read more

Product Description
* Named "Outstanding Academic Title" by CHOICE Magazine
* Uses first-hand accounts to provide a balanced report of the socialist Cuban reality
* For anyone seriously debating the US policy toward Cuba

Relating the experiences of contemporary Cuban people, this book is an original analysis of the economic policies and trends in socialist Cuba. Based on Jatar-Hausmann’s personally-collected data, it surveys more than two-hundred self-employed individuals, and includes interviews with government officials, academics, and average citizens. Vignettes depicting citizen’s daily struggles illustrate dilemmas and complexities of a socialist nation transitioning to a more open economy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Bland and disappointing!
I enjoy reading Ana Julia Jatar and I had great hopes for this book but I was disappointed.

In the Preface Ana Julia warns us about the shortcomings of all previous writing about Castro's Cuba calling it variously:

"[H]ighly technical and scholarly or tainted with biases that distort the picture. This is particularly true in Washington, where I have lived for the past four years. The tendency is to oversimplify the debates about Latin America in general, and Cuba in particular. A highly polarized ideological environment has limited the possibilities for unbiased analysis by substituting the need to understand with the desire to score political points. The categories are simple dichotomies: pro or against the embargo; pro or against Fidel; left or right; right or wrong."

With such an introduction you expect an accurate description and analysis of the "real" Cuba. Ana Julia took the ideology out of the debate, did not give a particularly vivid description of life on the island despite her attempt at "human interest" via sound bites of anonymous Cubans, and the end result is bland. I should also mention that the book could have been better edited to remove a lot tedious repetition specially towards the end.

The book's saving grace is a fair -- if bland -- description of life in Cuba which should be interesting to those who are not familiar with Cuba or Latin America. Specially interesting is the last chapter about the "Long-distance Civil War." But since Ana Julia has left out ideology, she failed to mention that this is not a war between good and evil but a war between two evils: socialism, which is inherently evil, and rapacious capitalism, which is an evil aberration of capitalism.

A book review is not the place to argue ideology and I have to thank amazon.com for adding a comments section where I will note my thoughts about the ideological issues afflicting Cuba.

A good overview of Cuba toward the end of the Special Period
This book mixes little snapshots of individuals' lives in Cuba after the bottom fell out of the Cuban economy in 93-94 with statistical data to provide a good mix of hard facts and real-life experiences.This post 1994 look is important in that it realizes that the Cuban economy is not going to simply collapse any time soon and that Castro and the rest of the Cuban government figures will likely be around for a while.

The book gives equal weight to the history of Cuba and today's Cuba while managing to show that the country is not simply a product of its history.The different anecdotes about moonlighting psychiatrists and frustrated economists bring the points to a more visceral level.

The mix of statistics in the form of charts and graphs and real world experience blends together into a readable, cohesive look at the Cuba of today.I definitely recommend this book to whoever wishes to learn a little more about the Cuba of today.

seems interesting...
This is a book I' d like to read and review, perhaps in a review article including other economic books on Cuban affairs that I have listed. These include some by Perez-Lopez and a forthcoming reedition of Guerilla Prince, which I hope to receive either in a readable format by e-mail or as a courtesy of the eds.

Prof (econ) Claes Croner EcoLingua 11727 StockholmSweden

Insightful, informative and a quick read
Between the anecdotes and the hard, cold facts, Jatar-Hausman provides a fascinating, accurate and comprehensive view of the post-Cold War Cuban economy and how it affects the life of the individual Cuban.

Concise, Readable, Excellent
"The Cuban Way" is perhaps the best resource for easilyunderstanding the confusing state of the Cuban economy (and politics andsociety, for that matter).I have studied the Cuban situation for manyyears, have read many books and articles on the subject, and authored a fewpublications of my own, and nothing I have come across on the subject isbetter.I also run a consulting company about trade with Cuba,Giraldilla.com, and I am constantly referring clients who want anaccessible, thorough overview to this book.Through an excellentcombination of clear explanation, helpful charts and graphs, and personalanecdotes, the author paints a broad, a comprehensive picture that is fullof detail, but not overwhealming or too technical.Jatar-Hausman performsa great service to the Cuba expert and the Cuba curious alike. ... Read more

Product Description
This new edition of a classic text has come to be known as "the bible of CubanStudies." The 11th edition emphasizes transition concerns in a hemisphere without Castro, and more immediately, the continuing embargo of Cuba by the United States in the aftermath of a major change in the presidency. The nature of Cuban Communism has once again become a core issue for American people. CubanCommunism has been updated to take account of changes in the 44 years of Castro's successful seizure of power in 1959. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Bible of Cuban Studies
In its tenth edition, this mammoth tome is rightly considered to be the "bible" of Cuban Studies. It both covers a wide breadth of political subjects and has an equally wide variety of contributors. Anyone wishing one-stop shopping for understanding the last 40 years in Cuba and Cuba-American relations will find this to be a beneficial purchase. ... Read more

Product Description

The Legacy of Exile, the latest entry in the New Immigrants Series, deals with one of the most visible and political of all U.S. immigrant groups–Cubans.   This is a group that was welcomed to the United States, that transformed a major U.S. metropolitan area, that exerts a powerful–and controversial–impact on U.S. foreign policy, and that has achieved, in a relatively short time, economic success in this country. The theme of the book is that the Cuban presence has been shaped by the experience of exile.   In understanding the case of the Cuban immigration to the United States, students will gain insight into the dynamics of U.S. immigration policy; the differences between immigrants and exiles; interethnic relations among newcomers and established residents; and the economic development of immigrant communities. Cuban immigrants provide a surprising and compelling case study of the relatively successful adaptation of an immigrant community. The book presents the long tradition of Cuban immigration to the United States; the elements of Cuban culture which have emerged and reinforced this tradition of migration; the impact that Cubans have had on the Miami area; as well as the changes within the community as Cubans develop into a well established minority group within the United States.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A gallery of buffoons exposed
This joint investigation by Columbian journalist Calvino Ospino and Belgian co-author Katlijn Declercq into Cuban dissident organisations examines extreme right-wing elements of the Cuban exile community who, it soon becomes clear, do not deserve to be dignified with the label `dissident'. With their declared intent to destabilise Cuba via any means at their disposal and bring about the so-called democratic transition they invite a less flattering description; `mercenary' comes fairly close, in some cases `terrorist' even closer. After an introductory chapter on Cuba's attempts to prosper despite decades of US aggression several such groups are outlined. In the acompanying interviews their spokespeople are given ample opportunity to condemn themselves out of their own mouths. All the evidence presented in this book shows conclusively that when Fidel Castro refers in his speeches to the `Miami Mafia', as he frequently does, it is not malicious exaggeration or hyperbole, but literal fact.

One major player in the murky game is the Cuban American National Foundation, a public relations body set up during the Reagan years to lobby key politicians in Congress hostile to Cuba. In his lengthy, hatchet-job biography of Castro historian Robert E Quirk euphemistically describes this organisation as `conservative and influential'. In fact the CANF has links to known terrorists Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, both accused of the 1976 Cubana de Aviacion bombing off Barbados which claimed 73 lives and both subsequently released from jail in Venezuela following negotiations with the Venezuelan police entered into on their behalf by the Foundation. Carriles and various accomplices would then carry out a series of bomb outrages on Cuban tourist centres in 1997 for which, according to one Salvadorean terrorist held by the Cuban authorities, CANF financial support was forthcoming. Given that, at its inception, all 14 members of the Foundation were former or actual CIA members and that its first Executive President, Frank Calzon, was an ex-leader of two terrorist organisations, we need hardly wonder at the type of activity it never scruples to condemn or the moral calibre of those to whom it gives its unstinting support.

Also there is `Brothers To The Rescue', an organisation which could perhaps most charitably be described as a bunch of romantic adventurers with a Don Quijote-ish, delusional take on reality. Whereas Cervantes' great comic hero mistook windmills for hostile giants, these decidedly unfunny characters misconstrue socialist Cuba as one vast gulag whose every inhabitant is a potential escapee. When one of the Brothers' planes was shot down during a leaflet-dropping sortie over the island in 1996, resulting in the loss of 3 crew members, the resulting uproar was as predictable as it was brazenly surreal. Cuba, we must understand, is the one country in the world which does not have the right to defend itself when its airspace is repeatedly violated.

A few others in the rogues' gallery may be mentioned. Paramilitary group 'Alpha 66' is noted for acts of heroism such as machine-gunning defenceless fishing vessels off the Cuban coast, and when interviewed its General Secretary Andres Nazario Sargen calmly boasts of having taken part in two assassination attempts against Castro. CANF radio station `Voz De La Fundacion', which spews out anti-Castro hate propaganda from Miami, is represented by one of its directors and her husband. The ensuing interview scales heights of burlesque equalled by, several chapters later, a petulant performance by Richard Bofill of the `Cuban Committee For Human Rights' who rails against his own people for being `idiots who believe in communism' before his impatience with the interviewers' questions renders him, at best, semi-coherent. More articulate but still highly dubious is Robert Menard, the General Secretary of `Reporters Sans Frontieres', which has always seemed to me generally a worthwhile body although tainted somewhat by the funding it receives from the `National Endowment For Democracy' and suchlike organisations. With no obvious hint of irony Menard insinuates that it is better to be a dead journalist in Colombia, where technically there is the right of free expression in the media although you may get killed for exercising it, than a living one in Cuba where the press is state-controlled. As for the amazing Monsignor Agustin Roman, Miami's `Auxiliary Bishop', obviously he speaks as someone who has at some time actually made the trip and mixed with Cubans in their own country. `In Cuba', comes the acute, insightful observation, `the people have to ask for permission for everything, even to dance'.

Were this devastating expose of Cuba's exile movement to be judged on style alone it would not deserve a 5-star rating, but it does a workmanlike job on its subject and makes fascinating reading. What it has to say is particularly relevant at a time when, as Castro approaches his 80th birthday, the forces of reaction gather in anticipation of the hoped for `democratic transition' when Cuba's leader is no more. In fact, to curry favour with precisely the sort of people described in this book the Bush administration's so-called Commission For Assistance To A Free Cuba (the language is Orwellian) issued a report in 2004 which is in effect a blueprint for maximum interference - regime change, no less - covering all aspects of Cuba's government, society and economy. (This disgraceful lie-ridden concoction, for anyone interested, can be downloaded in its entirety from the US State Department website using the Adobe attachment.) Reading it one is struck by the criminal mentality behind its elaboration simulating a real concern for the welfare of the Cuban people, and this manic determination to have done with `El Comandante' and all that he stands for begs the question as to who exactly the world would be a safer place without; Fidel Castro, atheist and renowned polymath, who poses no international threat, or the God-inspired, intellectually inferior George W. Bush whose bellicose Iraq policy is bound to concern Cuba now that it has been granted the uncoveted honour of being included on the official `Axis of Evil' list.

A no-brainer, surely.

Biased Propaganda at its Finest
If you are going to read this book, you should make the extra effort and read it along other books on Cuban history and government. Read reports by Human Rights Watch and by Amnesty International on Cuba and read two or three biograhies of Castro to see how the man and his government operate. Then read this book. I think you will find that this book is an intelligent political tool to attack the opossition to what is very much a totalitarian state. I am shocked that the authors put themselves to the task. Then again, the publisher of this book, Ocean Press, is a publisher of pro-Cuban government titles [I recommend that you compare Ocean Press' volume on Che Guevara against Jorge Castaneda's authoritative volume "Companero" to see the enormous bias of Ocean Press in favor of the Cuban government].

I am confident that if you read Ocean Press' other volumes and you read non-Ocean press reports and history books on Cuba and its oppressive regime, you will reach the same conclusion as this review.

I fear that a reader not familiar with Cuban politics and history will be influenced by this book to think that Cuba is an "utopia" and that the government opposers are "evil."

Sloppy work that exposes more about the authors agenda
I've been searching for a well researched work on Cuba's dissident movement as well as to better understand what is going on in Miami and the history of Cuban exiles in the United States. I found neither in this poorly written polemic. Incidentally not only do they slant the story, but they get the facts wrong. Just one example [of many] in the interview with Jose Basulto, of Brothers to the Rescue, the authors claim that he said "we made one of those flights on August 13, 1995, when we flew over Havana. But it was to [act as a decoy] in order to draw off the military surveillance ...

The fact of the matter is that it was July 13, 1995 and it drew a lot of attention in the media at the time because the Cuban government had sent to gunboats to crush the hull of the lead boat in a flotilla which entered Cuban waters to hold memorial services for dozens of men, women, and children massacred by Cuban agents a year earlier aboard the "13 de Marzo" tugboat. No mention of this, and even the date (something even Granma wouldn't screw up).

This isn't just Cuban government propaganda twisting facts around to spin its own version events. Its a sloppy job by no talent hacks.

I guess the Cuban government is outsourcing its work, and copying the ways of the bourgeois west. They are getting the same king of garbage from freelancers that everyone else does.

Let Them Speak
This book uses a simple but profoundly effective strategy: interview the exile "leaders" and let them indict themselves with their own words.The book lists a veritable who's who of the exile terrorists ("mercenaries" in the title is an unwarranted kindness by the authors, in my view).

It is important for readers to realize, however, that not all exiles support the criminal activities of the few exiles who dream of seizing power in Cuba.

The book provides some background on the interviewees, thereby giving the work a good historical perspective.This book is indispensable to understanding the exile movement and the US government's complicity in its activities.

A much needed book
The US media would have you believe that Cuban Exiles are a bunch of freedom loving , non-violent group that seeks only to free Cuba of "dictatorship"

This book proves them to be liars.And proves it with their own words.

The authors interview Cuban Exile extremists and let the readers decide not from right wing Americans or Pro Castro Cubans, but decide from hearing them with their own words.

Exile terrorists have done thousands of terrorist acts in Cuba that have killed men women and children. Often done with the open support and approval of the US government.

And what did Castro do to get the Exile so upset?Kick out the US-backed, corrupt Batista dictatorship run by the Casinos and Mob with American Capitalists owning all the resources of Cuba.

And what did Castro accomplish?Near 100% literacy, a lower infant mortality rate than the US, Universal Heatlhcare system proclaimed by the World Bank as a "model" for the third world, free education through the university level, Free Housing, Guaranteed work, and the highest standard of living in all of Latin America and all this DESPITE US aggression, US Embargo, and Cuban Exile terrorism.

While most of the Latin American countries that Cuba has a higher standard of living than, receives open US aid and support, Cuba receives open hostility and embargoes.

And the Exiles not only abandon their country but attack it and whine about Americans not doing enough to help them!

Real nice guys huh? ... Read more

Product Description
In this comprehensive study of Cuban politics, Rhoda Rabkin examines the institutions, policies, and performance of the revolutionary socialist experiment in Cuba. The work thoroughly addresses the major issues debated by scholars concerning the Cuban revolutionary experience. These include: the development "impasse" of pre-revolutionary Cuba, rates of revolutionary socio-economic progress, "militarization" of revolutionary Cuba, succession politics, respect for human rights, and the relevance of the Cuban model to other developing countries. Rabkin analyzes with particular care the tension between popular participation and the often extra-institutional leadership role of Fidel Castro. Rabkin provides her readers with an honest, objective synthesis of contemporary scholarship on the Cuban Revolution. ... Read more

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Product Description
Nowhere are the questions of revolutionary strategy that today confront men and women on the front lines of struggles in the Americas addressed with greater truthfulness and clarity than in the First and Second Declarations of Havana, adopted by million-strong assemblies of the Cuban people in 1960 and 1962.These declarations which were circulated widely in the Americas at the time stand today as they did more than four decades ago as manifestos of revolutionary struggle by working people the world over.Includes new preface by Mary-Alice Waters,special 12-page photo section, glossary, chronology, index. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A valuable contribution to Cuban history and political rhetoric shelves.
Now in a newly updated third edition by Pathfinder Press including a new preface, a special twelve-page section of black-and-white photographic plates, glossary, chronology, and index, The First and Second Declarations of Havana reprints two classic speeches first presented by Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro to General Assemblies of Cuban People in 1960 and 1962. The First and Second Declarations of Havana spares no leniency in its ruthless indictments of "imperialist plunder" and "the exploitation of man by man", champions the power of the greater aggregate of laboring humanity, and remains as sharply focused a call to revolutionary struggle today as it was forty-five years ago. A valuable contribution to Cuban history and political rhetoric shelves.

The path to liberation for Latin America and the world!
In these declarations the leaders of the Cuban revolutionary backed by the Cuban people show the way forward for Latin America.

The First Declaration, proclaimed in September 1960, "the right of the peasants to the land; the right of the workers to the fruit of their labor; and the right of nations to nationalize the imperialist monopolies." The Second Declaration, written in February 1962, calls for continent-wide revolutionary struggle. "What does the Cuban revolution teach?" it asks. "That revolution is possible," it answers. Only a revolutionary battle with the capitalist state to forge a workers and farmers government that fights to build socialism can bring liberation.

Fighters of "Bolivarian revolution" proposed by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez say imperialism can be defeated and socialism brought on without a revolution like the one Fidel and Che led. We join them in their battle with US imperialism and against reaction inside Venezuela. However, the history of struggle in Latin America embodies in these declarations show these is no half-way solution. This is the living experience of the Cuban revolution, and the lesson of the defeats of working people of Chile and Nicaragua.

These exciting documents show the path to liberation for Latin America and the world.
... Read more

Product Description
Set thirty years after the onset of Castro's revolution, this book looks at the author's three years in Havana, between 1985 and 1989, as she sought out a diverse range of individuals through whom Cuba could be revealed on its own terms. Those who stayed in Cuba and those who left, the optimistic, the disillusioned and, in view of the present climate in Eastern Europe, the anxious. Among those interviewed are a pre-revolutionary socialite who is proud of her role in the new society, a hotel worker who recalls the days of the Mafia, a veteran of the Angola campaign, a communist nurse, a practitioner of the Afro-Cuban religious cult of Santeria and a gay black. Lynn Geldof then interviews a selection of the immigrants who settled in the US. Included amongst the immigrants are the wealthiest who fled with the rise of Castro in 1959, the second wave of professionals and entrepreneurs who consolidated an anti-communist power-base in Miami and the Mariel Boat Lift exiles. The final section of this book looks at the implications of Soviet reforms for Cuba's future.Rafael Hernandez assesses the changing trade relationship with the USSR, Wayne Smith pinpoints blind spots in George Bush's refusal to open meaningful discussions with Castro and Jorge Dominguez considers Cuban youth's anti-revolutionary consumerist backlash, current censorship and the great changes that may lie ahead. Lynn Geldof is a journalist living in Dublin. ... Read more