This Is Cuba

An American Journalist Under Castro's Shadow

De: David Ariosto

Narrado por: David Ariosto

Fidel Castro is dead. Donald Trump was elected president. And to most outsiders, the fate of Cuba has never seemed more uncertain. Yet those who look close enough may recognize that signs of the next revolution are etched in plain view.

This is Cuba is a true story that begins in the summer of 2009 when a young American photo-journalist is offered the chance of a lifetime - a two-year assignment in Havana.

For David Ariosto, the island is an intriguing new world, unmoored from the one he left behind. From neighboring military coups, suspected honey traps, salty spooks, and desperate migrants to dissidents, doctors, and Havana’s empty shelves, Ariosto uncovers the island’s subtle absurdities, its Cold War mystique, and the hopes of a people in the throes of transition. Beyond the classic cars, salsa, and cigars lies a country in which black markets are ubiquitous, free speech is restricted, privacy is curtailed, sanctions wreak havoc, and an almost Kafka-esque goo of Soviet-style bureaucracy still slows the gears of an economy desperate to move forward.

But life in Cuba is indeed changing, as satellite dishes and internet hotspots dot the landscape and more Americans want in. Still, it’s not so simple. The old sentries on both sides of the Florida Straits remain at their posts, fists clenched and guarding against the specter of a Cold War that never quite ended, despite the death of Fidel and the hand-over of the presidency to a man whose last name isn’t Castro.

And now, a crisis is brewing.

In This Is Cuba, Ariosto looks at Cuba from the inside-out over the course of nine years, endeavoring to expose clues for what’s in store for the island as it undergoes its biggest change in more than half a century.

©2018 David Ariosto (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Published by arrangement with St. Martin's Press.

great overview on Cuba very interesting

I've read quite a bit on Cuba and watched quite a few documentaries this fit right in with those and was very informative seemed very accurate and was enjoyable

Great historical story

Easy to follow and very entertaining i feel it is a great way to get to know about cuba

David Ariosto has done a great job with this.

I have spent a lot of time in Cuba myself and wondered why no one has done a book like this before. The answer (I suspect) is that journalists affiliated with a network or newspaper, can not write about what they see and experience in Cuba without risking their accreditation and losing accreditation for their entire network. So Mr. Ariosto wrote this AFTER leaving Cuba and after leaving his job with CNN, therefore not putting his own job or CNN's accreditation at risk. Being in Cuba often feels like being in another dimension, an alternate universe, and Mr. Ariosto has nailed this. I hope to see more work from Mr. Ariosto on other conflict situations in the future. He also did a really good job on the reading. So this book has my recommendation. For reference I am the author of the graphic novel Ticket to Havana which is available on Amazon and on www.comixology.com

Very well written book by a journalist.

I enjoyed the journalistic style, the wealth of information and how the author grasped the spirit of the cuban people. I feel that it is a must read before traveling to Cuba.

Very well done and personal

I enjoyed the format of this book. It being in the first person made it seem like you were in a conversation with the author and not just being TOLD something. I especially enjoyed his “compare and contrast” with Venezuela.

A complete review of the real Cuba

Having grown in and spent many of school years among Cubans of varying classes and generations, I have heard many stories about the "real" Cuba. This book seems to mend the many radically different stories into the one single story with many aspects and experiences

great insight into Cuban life

This was a great review of the life in Cuba, its people, the history, and an americans experience living there.

A ring side seat perspective. Fascinating. Read like a novel.

Through his residence as a Cuba based journalist, Ariosto shares both a travelers “first experience” perspective of this culturally rich island that’s been locked into a decaying time capsule while still providing clear insight into the complex history of Fidel’s Cuba. Only people who know Cuba or read this book, can fully appreciate its title. Ariosto provides the often lacking context to what led to the Castro led revolution as well as their seemingly bipolar policies running it - many worth highly lauding and others condemnable ... much like that of the US of A’s!

A slice of an interesting life

Not just a review of the regular tired old caricatures but a thoroughly engaging painting of the complex reality that Cuba is. Things are never as they appear in so many things of life and when living as a journalist in Cuba that adage is additionally fueled. As the daughter of a Cuban man I thought this was careful and fair assessment of the reality that exists on the island. Having spent two weeks in Havana and it’s outskirts in early 2014 I was curious how the author viewed the developments of the last few years and here again the book is insightful and valuable. Well done!

Memoir and history

I've always been fascinated with Cuba. I hope someday to travel there. In the meantime, I read up what I can about the island and its people.

This is both a memoir of the author's stay in Cuba in 2009-2010 as well as the contemporary history of Cuba. David Ariosto interviews the Cuban commoner and tells us their personal story of the shop vendor, the maid, the taxi driver, the dissident in Miami. Ariosto knows the island well and interjects the listener with history and how it relates to Cubans today.

My only complaint is that he speaks rather fast at times, but you do get used to the pace.