Dateline Havana: The Real Story of Us Policy and the Future of Cuba 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Reese Erlich (Author), Stephen Kinzer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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ISBN-13: 978-0981576978

ISBN-10: 0981576974

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Expertly researched and deftly reported, <i>Dateline Havana</i> is a probing exposé of U.S. policy and the future of Cuba on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Covering art, music, and Cuban politics, Reese Erlich creates a tableau that is at once moving and informative.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Dateline Havana combines good investigative reporting with sharp analysis. Erlich takes us inside the cultures of Cubans and Cuban Americans, an eyewitness to their lives and their challenging politics over 40 years of reporting from the island nation. Dateline Havana is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the problems and seeing change in U.S. Cuba policy.”
―Walter Cronkite, former anchor of CBS Evening News --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

For five decades, Cuba and the United States have had a hostile relationship. But with the transfer of power from Fidel Castro to Raul Castro, Cuba is poised for big changes. What do these changes mean for Cubans and for U.S.-Cuban relations? Veteran reporter Reese Erlich set out to answer that question on the eve of the Cuban Revolution's fiftieth anniversary.

Dateline Havana is a personal yet considered exposé of U.S. policy and the future of Cuba. Reporting from Havana, Washington DC, and Miami, Erlich explores Cuba's strained history with the United States and the power of the Cuba Lobby. From Miami-based terrorists in Cuba to the green revolution in Cuban agriculture, he unearths telling details about U.S.-Cuba relations and present-day realities on the island.

Covering Cuban culture and politics, Erlich creates a tableau that is at once moving and informative. Along the way, he debunks many myths--perhaps most tellingly in the real story of the Buena Vista Social Club, which has little in common with the documentary by Wim Wenders. He paints a nuanced portrait of a nation cast in black and white by the Cuba Lobby, official U.S. Cuba policy, and the American media.

Erlich's deep knowledge of Cuba's history and his personal contacts with ordinary Cubans, Cuban and U.S. officials, and Cuba Lobby personalities inform Dateline Havana 's evaluation of U.S. options regarding Cuba. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

Reese Erlich’s publications include Dateline Havana, The Iran Agenda, and Target Iraq, which he co-authored with Norman Solomon (introduction by Howard Zinn and afterword by Sean Penn). He reports regularly for National Public Radio, Latino USA, Radio Deutche Welle, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He also writes for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News. In 2001, he produced a one-hour radio documentary, “The Struggle for Iran,” which was hosted by Walter Cronkite. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

Dateline Havana combines good investigative reporting with sharp analysis. Erlich takes us inside the cultures of Cubans and Cuban-Americans, an eyewitness to their lives and their challenging politics over 40 years of reporting from the island nation. Dateline Havana is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the problems with and seeing change in U.S. Cuba policy.
-- Walter Cronkite, journalist and former anchor of CBS Evening News

Reese Erlich's carefully researched new book, Dateline Havana, provides a historical perspective on the reasons that the United States and Cuba don't get along. It documents the sometimes hilarious and absurd lengths to which the U.S. government and the Cuba Lobby have gone to discredit Fidel Castro. Dateline Havana is mandatory reading for anyone concerned about the future of Cuba.
--Lee Lockwood, Castro's Cuba, Cuba's Fidel

In Dateline Havana, Erlich talks to people from all sectors of society. Refusing to be put off by the myriad obstacles that plague journalists trying to cover the Cuban experience, Erlich provides a unique look at a distinct social and economic system filled with contradictions, failures, and successes.
--Portia Siegelbaum, network news producer

Reese Erlich provides a well-documented view of one of our closest yet least understood neighbors. His perspectives on the island nation come from interviews with ordinary citizens as well as officials on both sides of the divide. He ventures an educated guess at how near-future Cuban history will unfold.
--Margaret Randall, Cuban Women Now and To Change the World: My Years in Cuba --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

ASIN : B01AC99M7U
Publisher : Routledge; 1st edition (January 8, 2016)
Publication date : January 8, 2016
Language : English
File size : 2743 KB
Simultaneous device usage : Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 233 pages
Lending : Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #3,201,138 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #500 in History of Cuba (Kindle Store)
- #2,049 in History of Cuba (Books)
- #6,825 in Caribbean & Latin American Politics

Customer Reviews:
7 ratings

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5 star		14%
4 star		27%
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2 star		27%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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José Sotolongo

Pertinent and timely

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2009

Verified Purchase

This is a history cum analysis of the Cuban government and its interactions with the US government from 1959, when Castro took over, to the present. It is generally accurate and reveals information not previously well publicized, thanks to arduous research by the author viz a viz review of declassified but not publicized documents from the US State Department.

Having said that, I found the author's slant (mostly pro-Castroite, always suspicious of US motives, albeit often justifiably) a bit tiresome. His diminution of the human rights violatons in Cuba undermines his credibility here and there, thus the 4 stars, not five. It is, nevertheless, an admirably researched book, important for anyone (even those in government positions) who may want a better understanding of the past and future for the relation between the two countries.

There are other sources readers may want to use to get a deeper understanding of the pre Castro Cuba and its troubled history with the US, including Tom Gjelten's book on the Bacardi family.

4 people found this helpful

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C. Bates

Dateline Havana

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2009

Verified Purchase

This is a decent history of the Cuban Revolution, but the author identifies his bias at the beginning and then reaffirms it constantly throughout the book. It felt unobjective, especially given the author's credentials as a journalist. The final chapter deals with the appropriate policy response from the U.S. Government in light of Raul Castro eventually stepping down and giving way to something. Unfortunately, there are no policy recommendations with a supporting rationale, just a few scenarios. One small irritant...some of the notes provide interesting background, but they're buried at the back of the book. It would have been nice to have them at the bottom of the relevant page where the reference occurs.

5 people found this helpful

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bill selzer

Havana

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2012

Verified Purchase

It was received promptly and in good condition. I have not read as yet. Recommended by friend who just returned from Habana

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farlio

Good Discussion of US-Cuba Relations

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2009

In Dateline Havana, Reese Erlich takes on the central paradox of American attitudes towards Cuba, which is that almost no one in United States, on the right or the left, has a realistic appraisal of the modern Cuban state. The misperceptions and outright distortions of the right have, without doubt, had greater policy import, and are probably held by a greater number of people. However, those on the left often overlook the shortcomings of the Revolution, and the problems afflicting Cuba today. Although Mr. Erlich does not spare those on the left (he was once in solidarity with them) he appropriately reserves most of his criticisms for the right wing interpretation of the Cuban Revolution. It is this interpretation, advanced by Cuban exiles and unrepentant Cold Warriors, that has structured US policy towards the island for the last fifty years.

The strongest aspect of the book is the extended discussion of the Cuba Lobby. The Cuban exile community has engaged in political activity against Cuba since the early 1960s; this activity has extended from a direct invasion of the island, to a campaign of terrorism, to concerted efforts to mold US policy. The last has been most successful. Extremist Cuban-American exiles no longer represent a majority of the Cuban population of the United States. Nevertheless, they wield outsize influence over US policy towards Cuba. Reese argues that the Cuban-American extremist exiles succeed not simply because of the electoral power they wield in Florida, but also because they are the only ones paying attention. In this, as in many situations, a small minority with intense preferences can impose its preferred policies on a majority that just doesn't care very much.

Mr. Erlich's account of Cuban political repression is largely fair. I found it a touch too credulous in parts-- it's unsurprising that a dictatorship does not create strong incentives for speaking truth to power, and I'm not convinced that the Cuban government's resistance to the spread of cell phones was wholly the result of a capacity problem--but he constructively compares the current situation with that of the United States, its allies, and of Cuba prior to the Revolution. Mr. Erlich notes that the Revolution remains popular in substantial portions of the population, and that free elections would likely result in significant (if not, perhaps, majority) support for the current regime. That said, regimes confident of their popular support do not, by and large, need to resort to the oppressive measures that have characterized the Castro regime since the 1960s.

I was troubled by a few of the claims made by Reese; in particular, he cites reports that the United States engaged in biological warfare against Cuba on two separate occasions during the Cold War. These claims do not make up a substantial part of his argument, but nevertheless the evidence supporting them is exceedingly thin. Experts on biological warfare do not, by and large, accept these claims or list them in the history of the use of biological weapons. One footnote cites an article that is apparently no longer available on the internet. Again, these claims do not go to the heart of his argument, but it would still have been helpful either to excise them or back them up with more substantial evidence.

Mr. Erlich makes sophisticated sketches of a few potential transition paths. He warns against the belief that a US opening will undermine the regime in short order, noting that Canadian and European tourists and money have already flooded Cuba. Fair enough, but I suspect that American investment and tourism will dwarf the European and Canadian contributions in short order. I also suspect that this influx will have a significant economic and political impact on the Cuban state. Of course, any such impact depends on the United States relaxing a number of different restrictions on commerce and tourism, and the interest of the Obama administration in making big changes on Cuba policy remains in some question. In any case, Dateline Havana is an extremely useful primer on US-Cuban relations, and a strong contribution to the debate on the future of US policy towards Cuba.

4 people found this helpful

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Peter Shapiro

A thoughtful and incisive look at Cuban revolution

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2009

This is a terrific book, one that deals honestly and intelligently with a subject that rarely gets discussed nowadays: how an "underdeveloped country" achieves economic independence, how socialist regimes work, the sometimes difficult choices they face, how well they are able to acknowledge and correct mistakes. Cuba survived the collapse of the Soviet bloc despite its catastrophic impact on the island's economy; Erlich suggests that its staying power owes much to the fact that, at critical times, the government has been able to acknowledge when a certain policy or approach isn't working and change it without the kind of convulsive social conflicts that have periodically wracked post-revolutionary China. His style, as always, is both informal and accessible, discussing complex issues in an understandable way without oversimplifying or "dumbing down." His section on the organic farming movement in Cuba is particularly eye-opening and has relevance far beyond Cuba.

The Cold War is over. It's refreshing to read an account of what's happening in Cuba whose purpose is not to refight old battles (although Erlich does deal with them) but to understand what's happening in Cuba now. The crazies who brought us the Elian Gonzalez controversy (child abuse in the service of a political agenda) will hate the book, but everybody else should find something in it to ponder and learn from.

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