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This Is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives
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 by Castro's regime. But are they outlaws or rather ingenious survivors of what many Cubans consider to be a forty-year mistake, a tangle of contradictions that has resulted in a strange hybrid of American-style capitalism and a homegrown black market economy. At a time when Cuba walks precariously on the ledge between socialism and capitalism, This Is Cuba gets to the heart of this so-called outlaw culture, taking readers into the living rooms, rooftops, parks, and city streets to hear stories of frustration, hope, and survival. Updated with a new preface.
- GenresNonfictionPoliticsTravel
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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137 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 2, 2013
There are hundreds of books on the fruits Castro's revolution. Read this one.
The case for freedom is not made by logic. From Plato, to Hobbes, to Lenin, to Oscar Lange, powerful arguments stand against it. Nor by ideology. The apostles of freedom have to concede the venality of man and the fractiousness of politics. Utopians can conjure sweeter visions.
Freedom often does not do well in the contest of music and poetry, either. "The Internationale" and the "Sandinista Hymn", to name just two, are among the most stirring of anthems. Sandinismo was "the revolution of the poets." Octovio Paz and Pablo Neruda, both Nobelists, are radical socialists.
It is down on the ground, in the reality of everyday life, that Freedom triumphs. That is why this book is an indispensable curative if there are still any delusionals who think Castro's Cuba is a lovely place for the common folks.
Corbett plainly loves the country and its people. Moreover, he "believe[s] in Castro's Socialist vision." But he is an honest reporter, and what he reports are squalor and repression, and--mocking the central Communist slogan--the most extreme and cynical exploitation of workers for the benefit of the ruling elite.
The government charges foreign contractors $1500 a month for a laborer and pays that laborer about $8 plus a daily sandwich and soda, which the laborer sells for a dollar. Ordinary people used to have access to the nicer beaches, but are now excluded, to foster tourism. Street hustlers face jail for the crime of diverting a few dollars from the government coffers. A mechanic who spends years fixing up old cars has them confiscated, and later sees them driven by Party officials. An unknown number of buildings in Havana, probably dozens, collapse each year, fatally, from decay and neglect.
Castro's net worth is estimated at $110 million, while the average Cuban's monthly salary is about $10. No one can live on $10, which is why the whole society is an "outlaw culture", in the words of the book's subtitle.
Worst of all is the soul-destroying surveillance, by police, by government inspectors, by block captains of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, by the tyranny of the ration book.
The case for freedom is not made by logic. From Plato, to Hobbes, to Lenin, to Oscar Lange, powerful arguments stand against it. Nor by ideology. The apostles of freedom have to concede the venality of man and the fractiousness of politics. Utopians can conjure sweeter visions.
Freedom often does not do well in the contest of music and poetry, either. "The Internationale" and the "Sandinista Hymn", to name just two, are among the most stirring of anthems. Sandinismo was "the revolution of the poets." Octovio Paz and Pablo Neruda, both Nobelists, are radical socialists.
It is down on the ground, in the reality of everyday life, that Freedom triumphs. That is why this book is an indispensable curative if there are still any delusionals who think Castro's Cuba is a lovely place for the common folks.
Corbett plainly loves the country and its people. Moreover, he "believe[s] in Castro's Socialist vision." But he is an honest reporter, and what he reports are squalor and repression, and--mocking the central Communist slogan--the most extreme and cynical exploitation of workers for the benefit of the ruling elite.
The government charges foreign contractors $1500 a month for a laborer and pays that laborer about $8 plus a daily sandwich and soda, which the laborer sells for a dollar. Ordinary people used to have access to the nicer beaches, but are now excluded, to foster tourism. Street hustlers face jail for the crime of diverting a few dollars from the government coffers. A mechanic who spends years fixing up old cars has them confiscated, and later sees them driven by Party officials. An unknown number of buildings in Havana, probably dozens, collapse each year, fatally, from decay and neglect.
Castro's net worth is estimated at $110 million, while the average Cuban's monthly salary is about $10. No one can live on $10, which is why the whole society is an "outlaw culture", in the words of the book's subtitle.
Worst of all is the soul-destroying surveillance, by police, by government inspectors, by block captains of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, by the tyranny of the ration book.
March 26, 2017
Excellent and I wish I had been able to read it before traveling. It confirmed much of what I suspected, explained other things I didn't know, and left me with a marked respect for the Cuban people.
April 8, 2019
I will be honest. I read this because I loved One Day at a Time.
“The Castros have found me!”
“The Castros have found me!”
March 30, 2026
It was fun to see how this book feels very dated but also still very relevant. Certainly the sections on a 'post-Castro Cuba' seem hopelessly naive and parts on the emerging effects of the internet felt antiquated, but they didn't distract me too much from enjoying the book. In terms of what has stayed the same since 2002, the major answer is the bilateral relationship. I can't think of many countries who have more of a stagnated relationship with the U.S. than Cuba. But for all of the geopolitical analysis in this book, its strength lies in the intimate, personal portrait it paints of Cuban people. Corbett successfully leveraged his time on the island to probe the Cuban psyche, from hardcore communist party members to those who live on the fringes of the 'revolutionary' society or even in direct conflict with it. It would certainly be interesting to have Corbett in Havana today, reporting from the streets as the U.S. and Cuba prepare to come to another momentous fork in the road.
June 5, 2012
The best parts of this book allow you to view Cuba through Ben Corbett's eyes. He exhibits a gift for painting verbal pictures and capturing a moment, a scene, an experience on paper. Each chapter of this book begins with such a scene, though at times not quite so skillfully as in others.
If capturing the present in words is the author's gift, however, his curse is his grasp of cause and effect. When describing Cuba's past and what has led to this (now decade old) point, he often confuses antecedents for causes. He makes mental leaps in how Cuba or Castro got from there to here, and they're not founded by either facts he's presented, or facts of reality. The mirror criticism with this is that his conclusions of what the (then) current circumstances mean for Cuba's future are typically naive or agenda based. It's difficult to tell which, but simple to tell that they're simply wrong. This was obvious even well before the epilogue chapter titled "A Post-Castro Cuba?" underscored the missed guesses.
One of the main themes of this book is that of contradiction in the Cuban society, across all levels. They exist on the governmental level, the level of the people trying to survive, art, work, pseudo-communist economy ... through everything. A particular oddity to note is that there's a major contradiction in the author's approach to Cuba. At times he talks about how it can't succeed with its current ideals, talks about how the ideals are unfair and inherently unjust, then seems to cheer them on and root for them all the same, and talks about how it has succeeded for decades. It's difficult to tell if the contradictions that recur in the book actually exist as they're presented, or if they're heightened by the contradictory approach Corbett has to the book's subject.
I picked this book up in 2004. This puts it halfway between now, and when I was in a post-civil war Guatemala. I was as shocked by the similarities between the two countries as I was by the differences. Most of all, I was shocked at how skillfully portrayed Corbett's visits to Cuba were that I was able to make the comparisons. It may have been a fairly one-sided view of Cuba, but it was a view that was perfectly captured. That alone makes the book worth reading.
If capturing the present in words is the author's gift, however, his curse is his grasp of cause and effect. When describing Cuba's past and what has led to this (now decade old) point, he often confuses antecedents for causes. He makes mental leaps in how Cuba or Castro got from there to here, and they're not founded by either facts he's presented, or facts of reality. The mirror criticism with this is that his conclusions of what the (then) current circumstances mean for Cuba's future are typically naive or agenda based. It's difficult to tell which, but simple to tell that they're simply wrong. This was obvious even well before the epilogue chapter titled "A Post-Castro Cuba?" underscored the missed guesses.
One of the main themes of this book is that of contradiction in the Cuban society, across all levels. They exist on the governmental level, the level of the people trying to survive, art, work, pseudo-communist economy ... through everything. A particular oddity to note is that there's a major contradiction in the author's approach to Cuba. At times he talks about how it can't succeed with its current ideals, talks about how the ideals are unfair and inherently unjust, then seems to cheer them on and root for them all the same, and talks about how it has succeeded for decades. It's difficult to tell if the contradictions that recur in the book actually exist as they're presented, or if they're heightened by the contradictory approach Corbett has to the book's subject.
I picked this book up in 2004. This puts it halfway between now, and when I was in a post-civil war Guatemala. I was as shocked by the similarities between the two countries as I was by the differences. Most of all, I was shocked at how skillfully portrayed Corbett's visits to Cuba were that I was able to make the comparisons. It may have been a fairly one-sided view of Cuba, but it was a view that was perfectly captured. That alone makes the book worth reading.
October 7, 2014
This is an awfully biased book. I don't really know what else I can write in a review of it. Reading the preface is like reading a statement from the US State Department. I couldn't go much further. I really dislike this kind of open propaganda spiced with prejudice and probably lack of knowledge. It made me raise an eyebrow when I noticed the author visited Cuba for the first time in 1998 and the book was published four years later... sounds like a tourist decided to write a 320 pages about Cuban culture, situation, politics.... sounds like someone writing about something he really doesn't have a clue.
By the way, I am a Western European with no connections with Cuba whatsoever. I hold no sympathy for Castro's regime. After all he sent Cuban advisers to Angola when that part of Africa was also part of my home country. But in the other hand I can't stand bullshit.
And I always find disturbing to read critical opinions from someone alien to a nation with rare exceptions, when the writer is obviously an expert. Otherwise I think people should worry first with the misery they have back home. There is enough misery - starvation, drug consumption, prostitution, violent street crime - in USA... perhaps the author should write about what he should know better.
Oh... and, Ben, perhaps you didn't notice but Cuba is an American country. Therefore Cuban citizens are as much Americans as USA citizens. To anyone out of your biased world, sentences like "Cubans are becoming smarter about Americans while Americans are becoming smarter about Cubans" are nothing but puzzling.
It's not our fault that your Fathers of the Nation couldn't come up with the idea of finding a proper name to designate USA citizens. Please leave all the other Americans out of it if you wanna talk about your fellow countrymen.
By the way, I am a Western European with no connections with Cuba whatsoever. I hold no sympathy for Castro's regime. After all he sent Cuban advisers to Angola when that part of Africa was also part of my home country. But in the other hand I can't stand bullshit.
And I always find disturbing to read critical opinions from someone alien to a nation with rare exceptions, when the writer is obviously an expert. Otherwise I think people should worry first with the misery they have back home. There is enough misery - starvation, drug consumption, prostitution, violent street crime - in USA... perhaps the author should write about what he should know better.
Oh... and, Ben, perhaps you didn't notice but Cuba is an American country. Therefore Cuban citizens are as much Americans as USA citizens. To anyone out of your biased world, sentences like "Cubans are becoming smarter about Americans while Americans are becoming smarter about Cubans" are nothing but puzzling.
It's not our fault that your Fathers of the Nation couldn't come up with the idea of finding a proper name to designate USA citizens. Please leave all the other Americans out of it if you wanna talk about your fellow countrymen.
Read
February 4, 2016An American journalist who's spent a lot of time in Cuba recounts the issues of life and government in Cuba, its contradictions, and how ordinary Cubans are trying to survive. The government rails against the imperialist American government, yet the dollar economy is valued more than the peso economy. Cubans who try to earn money by serving the tourist trade are taxed heavily. Tourism is what will save the Cuban economy yet the government prefers that it be the one raking in the dollars. Cubans stand in line for everything: shopping with their libreta ration cards and buses that break down. Each chapter reads like a magazine article. Vivid, slice-of-life stories about the people he's met. I read this in preparation for my trip to Cuba.
May 6, 2008
This is one of my favorite books. I am still re-reading chapters that I dog eared. I have been interested in Cuba for a while (history, politcs, art, music, society) but nothing I have read has come close to being as comprehensive and intelligently written as this book. Corbett visits all aspects of Cuban life and paints a vibrant portrait of an incredibly complex country. He carefully and clearly exposes a lot of misconceptions about the island and doesn't pull any punches when it comes to discussing American involvement, with both government and tourists. I absolutely loved reading this.
February 26, 2017
It's been quite awhile since I've read this book, so I can't remember all the good or bad things about it. Two issues I remember having were the title is a misnomer as all but one chapter is dedicated to Havana, omitting much about the rest of life in Cuba; and he spoke with only one pro-Castro person, which could either mean no one really supports Castro and what he stood for, or it is a very one-sided book. I do remember, however, liking Corbett's writing style and the people he introduced to the readers.
August 9, 2011
It's difficult to believe that the Cuban people live in a Communist dictatorship devoid of any human warmth or happiness, likewise it's impossible to believe that they live in veritable utopia. I imagine the truth lies somewhere in the middle and I think Corbett has addressed that.
He handles the volatile subject of Cuba with an even hand, discussing everything from the 1959 revolution to music to the black market. I can't help but wonder though, how would this book read if written by an actual Cuban?
Definitely a worthwhile read for anyone interested in Cuba.
He handles the volatile subject of Cuba with an even hand, discussing everything from the 1959 revolution to music to the black market. I can't help but wonder though, how would this book read if written by an actual Cuban?
Definitely a worthwhile read for anyone interested in Cuba.
November 27, 2007
I've had this for awhile - after reading Cuba Diaries: An American Housewife in Havana I wanted to learn more about Cuban culture. An interesting read, although not knowing Cuban history it is a little hard to follow. The author sprinkles it throughout, but I could have used a timeline or summary at the beginning to gain some context.
November 27, 2016
Now What?
Heading for Cuba in 2 months. What an exciting time. Castro died yesterday, so who can say what it will be like. This book gives an excellent overview of history to this point. This oldish book is still relevant and best I have read in my preparations. Viva la Cuba!
Heading for Cuba in 2 months. What an exciting time. Castro died yesterday, so who can say what it will be like. This book gives an excellent overview of history to this point. This oldish book is still relevant and best I have read in my preparations. Viva la Cuba!
October 14, 2007
i am OBSESSED with this country.
February 25, 2010
Great information about Cuba in 2002. Not sure how much is the same today. Certainly in the epilogue where Corbett says that Raul will never take his brother's place is not true, so what else?
March 8, 2010
I loved this book and not just because I work for Wal-Mart. Sam was one of a kind.
June 18, 2016
Fascinating insight into Cuban life and the Cuban people. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews