She's been kidnapped and beaten, lives under surveillance, and can only get online—in disguise—at tourist hotspots. She's a blogger, she's a Cuban, and she's a worldwide sensation. Yoani Sánchez is an unusual dissident: no street protests, no attacks on big politicos, no calls for revolution. Rather, she produces a simple diary about what it means to live under the Castro regime: the chronic hunger and the difficulty of shopping; the art of repairing ancient appliances; and the struggles of living under a propaganda machine that pushes deep into public and private life. For these simple acts of truth-telling her life is one of constant threat. But she continues on, refusing to be silenced—a living response to all who have ceased to believe in a future for Cuba.

In September 2010, Cuban president Raul Castro announced the beginning of sweeping economic reforms, including the elimination of a million public sector jobs, the easing of restrictions on private enterprise, and the first Communist Party Congress since 1997. To explore what Cubans think about the announced reforms, Freedom House conducted in-depth interviews with 120 people in six provinces from December 2010 to January 2011. These interviews also assessed access to information and technology on the island, and explored Cubans' values and beliefs, which Freedom House compared with the findings from other countries in the World Values Survey study. The results of this study indicate that despite hopes that the reforms will benefit Cuba, many do not believe they will personally benefit. Cubans continue to struggle to survive on a daily basis and are preoccupied by the need to feed their families, pay debts, and find work. When asked to describe their economic situation, the most common adjective used was "apretado" (tight). Cubans want to see economic reforms that will increase wages, lower prices, and make basic goods and services more available. Many younger Cubans would like to start a family but are unable to afford to live on their own, let alone raise children. As a young salesperson in Havana said, "If I don't have enough to support just myself, what will it be like if I have a family?" The poor state of Cuba's transportation system further isolates Cubans, particularly those in rural areas. While there is some indication that outright repression on the island has lessened slightly, Cubans are still subjected to a variety of restrictions on freedom of expression, private enterprise, and freedom of movement. Cubans are reluctant to complain in public, yet often criticize the government in private. Private businesses such as casas particulares (family homes that rent out a room) are subjected to hefty taxes and fined for minor infractions. A casa particular owner in Villa Clara, for example, claimed, "Everyone watches you here. If it's not the government, it's the neighbors who immediately alert the authorities when someone arrives." Although the Cuban government opened tourist areas to Cubans in 2008, the high cost of entry means few are able to take advantage of the facilities or services, such as the internet, offered at these sites. A resident of Villa Clara acknowledged, "It's an achievement by the government. But who does it serve? The tourists and not the Cuban people. Before we couldn't even enter; now we can, but how are we going to do that if everything is in CUC [pesos convertibles, or convertible peso)]?" Additionally, Cubans continue to need official permission to travel or move between provinces, as well as to leave the country. A respondent from Villa Clara explained how Cubans are required to have work licenses or certificates in order to exchange places with a family member in another province. Also, several respondents spoke of their efforts to leave the country either by acquiring a Cuban exit visa or gaining citizenship from another country and subsequently obtaining a non-Cuban passport. Separately, the July 2010 prisoner release negotiation was also initially hailed as reform, yet almost all of those released were forced to accept exile in countries such as Spain and the United States, prompting critics to argue that the Cuban government was using the prisoner release to physically remove the opposition from the island.

Change looms in Havana, Cuba's capital, a city electric with uncertainty yet cloaked in cliché, 90 miles from U.S. shores and off-limits to most Americans. Journalist Julia Cooke, who lived there at intervals over a period of five years, discovered a dynamic scene: baby-faced anarchists with Mohawks gelled with laundry soap, whiskey-drinking children of the elite, Santería trainees, pregnant prostitutes, university graduates planning to leave for the first country that will give them a visa. This last generation of Cubans raised under Fidel Castro animate life in a waning era of political stagnation as the rest of the world beckons: waiting out storms at rummy hurricane parties and attending raucous drag cabarets, planning ascendant music careers and black-market business ventures, trying to reconcile the undefined future with the urgent today. Eye-opening and politically prescient, The Other Side of Paradise offers a deep new understanding of a place that has so confounded and intrigued us.

“Frequent insights, stimulating historical comparisons, and command of the data relating to Cuba’s economic and social performance.” —Foreign Affairs Uncritically lauded by the left and impulsively denounced by the right, the Cuban Revolution is almost universally viewed one dimensionally. In this book, Samuel Farber, one of its most informed left-wing critics, provides a much-needed critical assessment of the Revolution’s impact and legacy. “The Cuban story twists and turns as we speak, so thank goodness for scholars such as Samuel Farber, an unapologetic Marxist whose knowledge of Cuban affairs is unrivalled . . . In this excellent, necessary book, Farber takes stock of fifty years of revolutionary control by recognizing achievements but lambasting authoritarianism.” —Latin American Review of Books “A courageous and formidable balance-sheet of the Cuban Revolution, including a sobering analysis of a draconian ‘reform’ program that will only deepen the gulf between revolutionary slogans and the actual life of the people.” —Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums

The surprising story of Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and the scrappy band of rebel men and women who followed them. Most people are familiar with the basics of the Cuban Revolution of 1956–1959: it was led by two of the twentieth century’s most charismatic figures, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara; it successfully overthrew the island nation’s US–backed dictator; and it quickly went awry under Fidel’s rule. But less is remembered about the amateur nature of the movement or the lives of its players. In this wildly entertaining and meticulously researched account, historian and journalist Tony Perrottet unravels the human drama behind history’s most improbable revolution: a scruffy handful of self-taught revolutionaries—many of them kids just out of college, literature majors, and art students, and including a number of extraordinary women—who defeated 40,000 professional soldiers to overthrow the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Cuba Libre!’s deep dive into the revolution reveals fascinating details: How did Fidel’s highly organized lover Celia Sánchez whip the male guerrillas into shape? Who were the two dozen American volunteers who joined the Cuban rebels? How do you make land mines from condensed milk cans—or, for that matter, cook chorizo à la guerrilla (sausage guerrilla-style)? Cuba Libre! is an absorbing look back at a liberation movement that captured the world's imagination with its spectacular drama, foolhardy bravery, tragedy, and, sometimes, high comedy—and that set the stage for Cold War tensions that pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war.

In 2006, Fidel Castro yielded power over Cuba to his younger brother Raul, making him the first new president of the island nation in nearly five decades. Raul has ushered in many changes and reforms, including allowing open criticism of the government, lifting the ban on personal electronics, and allowing farmers to purchase their own equipment. This timely work weaves together expert analysis with narrative accounts from current Cuban citizens to explore the economic, political, legal, and social changes occurring in Cuba under Raul Castro's presidency. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.