This Is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives

by Ben Corbett

Book Overview

Beyond the throngs of tourists streaming through Central Havana's broad Prado Avenue, and outside the yoke of Castro's 43-year-old Revolutionary program, there exists a parallel Cuba - a separate evolution of a people struggling to survive. With personal stories that depict a people torn between following the directives of their government and finding a way to better their lot, journalist Ben Corbett gives us the daily life of many considered outlaws...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813342244
• ISBN13: 9780813342245
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Enorme!

I am Cuban and I been living in this great country the USA for 26 years. Most of my family still lives in Cuba and everything Mr. Corbett writes in this book is true. I disagree with maybe one or two things, but when I finish reading this book I thought it was great that finally someone wrote a book so honest about my country. When it comes to Cuba nobody ever ask the Cubans what they think. Mr. Corbett did ask and he lets the people tell their stories. He wrote this book very humble and it feels good to know some people are listening instead of having all the answers like all of these people that goes there for a week and think they know Cuba. Most people writes about how great Castro is and how the Cubans love him, a lie. Also I want to correct this reviewer below. The title of this book, This Is Cuba, is an expression we have in my homeland. When someone asks maybe "Why does the people here make only eight dollars a month while Castro buys for himself an airplane for fifty million?" A Cuban will answer "Because This Is Cuba!!!" If you really want to know Cuba then you should read this book and maybe Before Night Falls and Dirty Havana Trilogy.

Cuba: Good and Bad

I visited Cuba in March 1997 and have always been drawn back to books that allow me to vicariously revisit the country.Ben Corbett's book manages to walk a fine line between an admiration for Cuba (especially her people) and often stern criticism of the Castro regime. It differs, therefore, from many other books about Cuba. Corbett is no Miami based Cuban exile with a chip on his shoulder but nor is he a naïve promoter of the Communist Party government. In short, Corbett has real credibility.From another angle, Corbett is clearly no blow in visitor who, after a week or two in the country, regards himself as some sort of expert. Instead, Corbett has visited the country on a number of occasions and for considerable lengths of time in each case. He has immersed himself in the country from a variety of perspectives and has clearly travelled widely and met a host of individuals, many of whom he now counts as friends.It seems to me that Corbett has a love for Cuba but a distinct distaste for the regime. Yet for all this, he has no axe to grind. Far too many critical Cuba commentators are allied with the exile communities in Florida. Unfortunately, for all the errors and flaws of the regime, its hasty end may well herald the return of the exiles and a still less than positive outcome. There may be no velvet revolution.I recommend this book to all readers interested in Cuba and its future.

Lifting the veil

Anyone who harbors romantic notions about Fidel Castro's Cuba might be disturbed, perhaps even angered by Ben Corbett's book, for he shows very clearly how it is that the so-called Revolution is little more than an old-fashioned Latin American dictatorship hiding behind a veil of outworn platitudes. Anyone who has had to live there--not as a foreigner, but as a Cuban--will applaud this book, and recommend it with enthusiasm. Relying on his own experiences and on ordinary people that he met while living in Cuba, Corbett paints one of the most realistic portraits of life on that benighted island that have ever been published in America. Corbett convincingly argues that the economic strangulation of the Cuban people has been caused by the policies of Castro's oppressive regime rather than by the U.S. embargo. He does this by focusing on the details of daily life in present-day Cuba, and by highlighting the many ways in which individual initiative is crushed in the name of impossibly paradoxical utopian ideology. All of this is done with prose as spare as it is elegant. Corbett wears his heart on his sleeve, and in this case it is a very good thing, for he turns into an eloquent champion of human rights, lifting the veil on a ruthless dictatorship that has been masquerading as a humanitarian experiment for far too long. This should be required reading for anyone who is thinking of visiting Cuba or buying a Cuban cigar.

Excellent view of a Socialism as seen thorough human eye

I couldn;t stop reading it until I was finished. Excellent. The author describes Cuba as he sees it and as he sees it through the eyes of a Cuban. This book basically shows a day to day reality of a socialistic and centrist government and what it has done to its people. I only wish other centrist leaders take notice of it.

This is Cuba

From the wealth of descriptive detail and the depth of his insights into Cuban life, it is obvious that Ben Corbett went far beyond the typical American journalist's two-week taxi tour of the island. Corbett has put in the time and the miles to take the reader into the streets, homes and minds of the Cuban people. The book is a cultural immersion that chips away our American preconceptions about Cuba. It presents an extremely illuminating portrait of the island that will probably disturb anyone whose view on Cuba is either glib or set in political stone. The only thing I didn't like about the book was the poor quality of the printing; most of the photos are more like ink blobs than images. Other than that, I highly recommend it. Someone should send a copy to Bush.