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Conversations with Cuba

Conversations with Cuba
By C. Peter Ripley

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Here is a fresh story behind this passionate, struggling, frequently discouraged, but always proud country, told by ordinary Cuban citizens--the people who still struggle with a revolution that is far from over. Sparked during his high school and college years by his admiration of the Cuban revolution--the first successful bourgeois revolution of the twentieth century--C. Peter Ripley subsequently developed a fascination with Cuban culture that took him on five illegal trips to the struggling country between 1991 and 1997. During his travels, Ripley visited and revisited the Cuban landscape and its people, closely following the lives of citizens who were deeply influenced by the revolution and its effects. Through his experiences and observations, Ripley taps into the reality behind his long-romanticized perceptions of the Cuban Revolution.

Conversations with Cuba takes place during the height of the "special period," the ambiguous name given to the years of hardship following the end of the Soviet Union's vital aid to the country, isolated by the U.S.-led embargo, and preceding Cuba's as yet unrealized revitalization. Ripley guides us on a first-person journey through this bustling economy now reduced to soap shortages, one meal a day, and desperate attempts to locate an economic salvation in foreign tourism. He shows us people with a faith and pride in their nation and its revolutionary ideals that is as frequently conflicted as it is fierce. We come to know Pedro, a plumber and black marketeer; Roberto, who introduces Ripley and his companions to the enforced discrimination behind Cuban tourism; and Neddie, a schoolteacher whose early confidence in the Revolution is later seriously challenged by the harsh realities of the "special period." Ripley's most involved relationship is with Paulo, a college student turned black marketeer who becomes Ripley's guide and friend during his travels. Paulo's discontent with his country and his own circumstances is tested through the course of the book, and, guided in part by his foreign guest, he ultimately experiences a drastic transformation, trading his desire to leave Cuba for a new dedication to his heritage and a persistent hope for Cuba's revolutionary future. These individuals and countless others encountered in Conversations with Cuba reveal a moving portrait of a country and an uncommonly civil society shaped by “patria,” courage, tenacity, and a simultaneously critical and optimistic belief in their revolution, within an ambivalent reality of tension and change.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1186790 in Books
  • Published on: 2001-03-26
  • Original language: English
  • Dimensions: .93 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 272 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Present-day Cuba continues to be a mystery to most Americans. The historical travel restrictions, though not as prohibitive as in earlier years, continue to limit the number of Americans who visit this island, Communist since the late 1950s. Ripley, a historian of the black experience in the United States, has written a personal and sensitive description of the Cuban people. Based on five trips he made between 1991 and 1997, his latest book examines Cuba's common citizens, whose lives are intimately connected to the Cuban revolution. Sympathetic to the revolution, Ripley paints a more positive picture of Cuba's recent history than does the mainstream press. Although not entirely objective, the text is well written and informative. Of interest to academic libraries with Latin American collections and public libraries with a Latino patron base.AMark L. Grover, Brigham Young Univ. Lib., Provo, UT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In the 40 years since the Cuban Revolution, much has changed there. Ripley, through five visits in the 1990s, uncovers the attitudes of this contradictory island country. Despite most people's unwillingness to criticize the government, there are subtle expressions of dissatisfaction, mostly from the younger generation that does not remember the revolution itself. However, there are enough Cubans who, despite their sometimes squalid conditions, still utter "Vive la revolucion!" Indeed, during the course of the book, Ripley relates how dollars began to be accepted as well as pesos and even how U.S. customs doesn't go out of its way to prevent black-market cigars from entering the U.S. His romanticism of the revolution gets tested; the family he meets each visit is largely in Castro's corner, but many of the women would move to the U.S. if given a chance. Ripley's breezy writing style spotlights well these noble, fascinating people and their often complex story. Joe Collins

Review

"Ripley conveys the enduring strength of two Cuban traits that were apparent to perceptive viewers of more than a century ago—Cuban defiance and Cuban resilience."--Lester D. Langley, author of America and the Americas


"It is not often that a book appears possessing simultaneously the promise of lasting endurance and immediate relevance. Over the long run, Conversations with Cuba will assume a place of distinction in the vast literature produced by foreign travelers to Cuba. It is not difficult at all to anticipate the appreciation with which historians in the future will consult Ripley’s chronicle of the 1990s, for his travel memoir offers an insightful and textured representation of a people situated at the most improbable historical conjuncture. It resonates real. And precisely for the same reason, readers today with even a casual interest in the present life and times of the Cuban people would do well to give Conversations with Cuba careful consideration. Rich with intelligence and insight, the memoir provides compelling narrative form to the vitality that is Cuba today."--Louis A. Perez Jr., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


"Few works have captured the impact of [Cuba's economic and political changes on citizens' everyday lives. . . . For those who cannot make the trip, Ripley's book offers a satisfying glimpse into today's Cuba."--Times Literary Supplement


"Ripley's penetrating study . . . is a hard book to put down. It is fluid in its expression and deeply personal in its love of Cuba and Cubans. . . . For anyone curious about life in Cuba today, this is the place to start."--Tampa Tribune and Times


"An excellent record of how Castro's tourism policies have transformed the lives of Cubans, particularly in Havana."--Publishers Weekly