Customer Reviews

Conquering Nature: The Enviromental Legacy of Socialism in Cuba (Pitt Latin American Studies)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book sets out to show that Cuba is worse off ecologically under socialism than it would have been under free market conditions. The book is a complilation of work by other authors. These writers did not go to Cuba, haven't seen ecological conditions for themselves, nor interviewed residents of the island.

Most of what I read in this book was the same information I have read in other books about Cuba - and no case was made to show that the course taken ecologically in Cuba was different than or worse than the course of ecological degradation that takes place in other carribean islands or the US, for that matter.

While reading this book I was also reading Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment You can compare what's going on here to what is taking place in Cuba and see that the economic systems don't seem to make any difference when it comes to environmental degradation.

I gave this book three stars because it did not make its case, but it did make the case that conditions in Cuba are better than in other islands in spite of the US embargo.