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This is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives | 
 enlarge | Author: Ben Corbett
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
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Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 892653
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1
ASIN: B0006I7FD6
Publication Date: September 30, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A colorful first-person account of living on the fringes of Castro's Cuba, & a splendid evocation of the modern Cuban character. With personal stories that depict a people torn between following the directives of their government & 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 40-year mistake, a tangle of contradictions that has resulted in a strange hybrid of American-style capitalism & a homegrown black market economy. Corbett brings readers into the living rooms, rooftops, parks, & city streets to listen to stories of frustration, hope & survival. B&W photos.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 From a fan--a damning witness February 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a great book. Not just a great Cuba book, or travel book...it's an excellent piece of writing with a objective, surefooted point of view that cuts through a controversial, incredibly complex subject with precision, heart, humor, and an unflinching sense of witness. One of the great things about it is illustrated by the fact that although the author is a fan of socialism and Castro, he frames one of the most devastating descriptions ever written of the bankruptcy of the economic, political, social, and philosophical situation in Cuba today. There might be those who take umbrage at what Corbett has done here, but no visitor to contemporary Cuba will fail to recognize the unvarnished validity of what he says or admire the lapidary, congenial way he says it.
Unlike many writers who pop into Cuba and pop out with the answer--not to mention the legions who make up their minds on sheer ideology--Corbett has visited the island many times over a period of years, and has considerable experience living there for long periods of time. He lived somewhat underground: in illegal circumstances, which brought him into easy contact with mass opinions not quickly offered to strangers. And he was lucky enough to have been there during several very revealing periods, including crackdowns and crises.
Corbett organizes his experiences into twenty-odd chapters in a way that seems effortless, but is actually an ingenious method of arranging the multi-leveled task of describing a society. Chapters discuss a day in school, black market, prostitution and hustling, the effects of "Buena Vista Social Club", the incessant marches, the crush for tourist dollars, diet, and the attempts to escape--either legally or otherwise. And each spins out into an embrace of the whole nutty economy and culture. The subtitle of the book, "An Outlaw Culture Survives" is extremely indicative: throughout it we see a constant struggle for survival in a system of parallel cultures that operate beneath the laws and oppression. And throughout we are apalled and impressed by the dogged ability of Cuban ingenuity to pull through, to rig things up, to balance necessity, law, doctrine, and black humor.
One phenomenon he descibes is a good example of the multi-level impact of his calm observation: derrumbes. From time to time buildings in Havana just collapse--failure due to age, poverty and lack of safety codes. Sometimes people have enough warning to run outside, often several families die. And the neighbors cannibalize the collapsed houses to repair their own homes. The first reaction of a NorthAmerican to the idea that urban buildings fall down and people are used to it is one of horror and disbelief. It goes against everything we think a city and society should stand for. Then we think about an economy in which some homes survive by using debris from those that collapse--not a bad analogy for the Cuban economy that has degenerated to a flea market selling off the last old stuff in the attic. Then maybe we start to admire the hunker down courage of people who live like that, who accept a system so different from the one their parents knew. And we marvel at the many who move to Havana from the country--even with possible penalties of jail and fines equal to five years pay for doing so--because the small towns and countryside offer much less opportunity for survival. The real genius and miracle of Cuba is in its people. By the way, appoximately a quarter of Havana's buildings are officially unsafe, a moderate earthquake would probably topple 75% of them. It is illegal to photograph or report derrumbes.
Corbett (and his Cuban friends) have a fine eye for ironic contradiction and the bitter laughs it provides. Cubans love to camp on beaches but under the current regime are not allowed to--beaches are reserved for tourists with dollars. In the workers' paradise, labor unions are illegal. Castro proclaims socialism and trumpets against U.S. capitalism yet whores for American capital. Foreign companies pay well for construction and oil workers, but the government keeps the money and pays the workers the usual $7 a month stipend for their work--in a system supposedly built on rebelling against exploitation of labor. Prostitution, supposedly impossible under Marxist principles, is tolerated because it brings in foreign dollars. Those who are lucky enough to win the visa "lottery" and leave Cuba end up having everything they owned taken from them by their government--and have to pay for exit visas. It just goes on and on. For the reader--for Cubans it's been going on and on for fifty years.
Though basically a fan of Cuba, Castro, and leftism, Corbett doesn't flinch away from realities that most starry-eyed chroniclers gloss over or ignore: that Cuba is a fascist state. The government controls everything, including where you live, police are numerous and everywhere, a block-by-block citizen spy network reports everything that happens, goods are seized by the state on any pretext...and above all, the prime characteristic of slave states that makes their apologists uncomfortable--the people are not free to leave. What better definition of imprisonment, oppression or slavery could there be than that: you can't leave if you want to.
It's as much a tribute to Corbett as to the Cuban people that this exhibition of socioeconomic malpractice is basically upbeat. And that's the way Cuba is: you see all this atrocity going on around you, but you leave happy and singing the lyrics. The last chapter of "This Is Cuba" is the most quizical of all: what happens next? If Castro died tomorrow and Cuba burst out into the real world after a half-century of being kidnapped away from the world economy, what would happen? They have nothing to sell but the usual Third World inventory: their labor, soil products, beaches and willing women. They have nobody who has a clue how to market goods, run a factory, design competitively, distribute products, organize labor. On the other hand, they have become a country of survivors: tinkerers, corner-cutters, jury-riggers, co-operators. If they have a chance to avoid being Haiti, it will be because of Cuban resilience. Corbett ends his book like this:
"(the will to survive, to live, to endure, and even to resist)...are the ingredients of focused human determination. Today, Castro only stands in the way of the people. They are now prepared to define Cuba's destiny. And in this preparedness, perhaps Castro acheived the greatest victory of all." Whether that is a ringing cheer for Castroism or analagous to saying that men come out of penitentiaries better prepared to live on the street remains to be seen.
 Buscando La Verdad. . . February 6, 2008
I would like to say that reading this man's encounter of Cuba has changed my view on American reporters. Coming from a family who left Cuba in the early 60's, I have heard much about the poverty and I know how sad it was for my family to remember the way it was pre-Castro. Since I am first generation American I have only had the experience of my family to go on. The read was bittersweet for me. I am happy to know that someone is corageous enough to tell the truth even if it hurts to know what my people must go through everyday to survive.
Great book for a Capitalist BOURGOISE AUTHOER August 3, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book greatly details the lives of an outlaw culture. However, Ben Corbett isn't entirely objective. He is very pro-American capitalism, he has yet to see that globalization and capitalism leaves alot of countries in dire poverty, the poor in capitalistic Latin American countries are worse off than the average Cuban. My only criticism of the book is that he never interviews doctors, lawyers, or government officials, only pimps, hoes, tatoo artists, and drug dealers. What would you expect them to say about their government and lifestyle? Would you ask homeless Americans and/or prostitutes about the American dream, our government, or opportunties here? Hell no!! Besides, the American dream is a lie and the USA does have a class system!!!! We live in a dictatorship and we dont have complete freedom, we just think we do. So to all those who criticize Cuba, eat it! VIVA FIDEL-who provides medical care to the poor throughout the world and cares about his people, unlike Bush the elitist. Bolivia thanks you for those shots! Fidel-History will absolve you when they see how evil the US really was and IS today in MODERN TIMES!!! VIVA FIDEL-a HERO!!!!!!
 Biased and premeditated and uninformative. May 26, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you have an agenda and want to write a negative book about anything then this chap shows you how to do it.Not too much information yielded about real Cuban life which differed greatly to my experiences.Interviews people ,specifically hand picked(all disgruntled) and gets them to tell you how repressed and downtrodden they are.Really,can you take the word of a prostitute to be the gospel truth?
Perfect for capitalists and the unifnformed but really offers nothing in the way of culture,education,history,geography or indeed anything else you may be looking for about real Cuban life.
Simply amazing May 19, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am a 32 years old cuban who left Cuba in 1999. I was born into the "revolution" and was able to witness most of the stories told on this book. However, this book goes deep into the real heart of Cuba discovering things that even me as a Cuban, I was unaware of. Great Job!!!!
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