This is Cuba

Cuba is a little Island in the Caribbean that has managed to have a huge impact on American policy. A combination of the a near Apocalypse caused by the Cuban Missile crisis and a decades long embargo made Cuba one of the most contentious foreign policy topics of the previous century, dragging into the present. This Is Cuba, is a glimpse of the country that Americans rarely see. It is not the Cuba of our domestic politics, nor is it the Cuba of the Miami immigrants. Rather it is the Cuba that real Cubans live and struggle in everyday.

Ben Corbett describes a society where everyone is dependent on the black market to live. He depicts a nation whose revolution has decomposed into a sad desperate attempt of an old man to find political and historical significance. This is Cuba shows the frustration of a people who honestly believed in change after the fall of the Batista government and who live in a society whose standard of living increasingly decreases while rich tourists enjoy the finest things of the island.

The book is excellently written and, instead of trying to push a certain ideology, embraces the people of Cuba's beliefs and ideas of their government. Everyone from prostitutes to dairy farmers share their beliefs and lives with Corbett as he explains life on this island nation. If one is looking for a quick and informative read about the Black Sheep of the Caribbean, this is it. I rank this a read.

The Unthinkable

The Unthinkable

You’re on an airplane that has crashed, or a hurricane is coming towards your home, or your house is on fire. What do you do? How do you perform under stressful situations? “The Unthinkable” by Amanda Ripley, is a book that explores how human beings respond to danger using anecdotes and well researched neurological studies to explain how human beings either succumb to the brains evolutionary response to danger or use this response to escape danger.

The most interesting part of this book is the destruction of the myth of panic by large groups. Ripley shows that there are instances where large groups panic, but in the majority of cases it seems that people are calm and helpful in dangerous situations. What seems to be the problem during disasters is a lack of training and knowledge of their situation. Public officials tend to believe that people can’t be trusted with a thorough knowledge of danger rather. Because of this, people are often robbed of knowledge that can save their lives. “The Unthinkable” give details of this problem and much more information that is of use to readers.

I rank this book a buy. This is especially good for minorities as they tend to be at risk of danger from fires, which are primarily a problem of lower earners. It is one of the best books I’ve read on this subject in a long time.

Richistan

Some Americans are really, really wealthy. “Richistan”, by Robert Frank, is a description of the lives of the upper 1% in America, who make huge amounts of income and live vastly different lives from the rest of us. This book is fascinating and manages to examine the social consequences of economic inequality while at the same time treating those who have more money than the rest of us as human beings.

American income inequality has been an issue since Reagan began dismantling regulation and our tax code. Frank, in a curious and fascinated manner, examines the everyday lives of the ultra rich and shows the readers a world that is so alien as to be a foreign land, thus the title.

It is a good book and a good read, albeit a brief one, and is well worth picking up. I purchased it but would recommend you borrow it from a friend or the library. However, if you do purchase it you won’t be disappointed.

In Defense of Food

Wow, we eat a lot of things that are bad for us. This book is not about looking for nutrients or trying to get more vitamin C. It’s about eating food. In fact that is the premise of the book “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” explains the authors entire philosophy on food.

I had been thinking about my eating habits before I read this book. I want to get into the best shape of my life, and had begun wondering if the stuff I was putting into my body made a bigger difference than I had previously thought. “In Defense of Food” divided the world into food and food substitutes. The author argued, convincingly, that there is a marked difference in taste, quality, and health benefits between mass produced agro-business food products, and organic local produce and meats. Further, he explains how fake foods, like margarine, got on the shelves of supermarkets, and how a reductionist scientific approach has led to food that is not as healthy as what our ancestors ate.

When I read the book I began to think of some eating experiences that stood out for me. My grandmother would buy whole milk that was so fresh cream would form at the top. I remembered hating 2% milk that I drank at home because it tasted like water and being absolutely in love with the bottled local milk at my grandmothers. I thought about the first time I ate free range chicken at my girlfriend’s mothers house and how I didn’t even realize it was chicken because the bones were so thick and the meat so flavorful. I remembered the taste of fresh chicken in Kenya which only had a little salt and tomatoes stewed with it.

As a percentage of our income, Americans pay less than most other people for our food. The reason is not that we produce inexpensive food. We pay less because we eat a cheap substitute for good food. It is less healthy and it doesn’t taste as good. I rate “In Defense of Food” a buy. The book has made me determined to spend a little bit more for my food, because after all this stuff goes in my body and why settle for crappy food when a healthier alternative is available that TASTES better.

The Rise of Counter-Establishment and Blinded by the Right

The Rise of the Counter-Establishment

Where did the modern conservative extreme right come from.? Sidney Blumenthal explains this, in rich detail, in his book “The Rise of the Counter-establishment”. This book starts in the beginning of the twentieth century by explaining the roots of the neo-cons and ideological roots. In Blumenthal’s book we get extreme which include the rise of Milton Friedman, the Reagan Revolution, and the merger of the religious and economic right.

What is most interesting about Blumenthal’s book is that we can see the feudal out look of some of the leaders of the conservative movement. There is a belief in a type of capitalism that is more akin to a feudal world where the wealthy dominate, social movement is limited, and religion is homogenized. We have nearly one hundred years of the history of one of the most influential movements of our lifetimes in one place. Its worth buying and I rate it a buy.




Blinded in the Right

Imagine being a gay man in the closet working for the far right during their rise to power. That is what David Brock was as a hard core right wing pundit who was well enmeshed in the power structure of the Republican and conservative movements. He went from being a darling of the right, to an outcast shortly after he was “outed”.

Brock’s story is fascinating as we watch him argue passionately against his own interests, and then see his tumble on the road to Damascus. He rights well, and it is very difficult to put the book down once it is begun.

This is a fantastic book, a quick read and well written. It’s worth buying as well, if for no other reason than to be able to loan it to friends who are curious about the inner workings of the modern Republican Party.

The Looting of America

Les Leopold’s “The Looting of America” is one of many books that have analyzed the economic crisis of 2008 and its causes. While it may seem to be a bit of a retread as financial instruments are explained in numerous publications, Les does manage to make the subject interesting. He begins by giving an example of a small town in Wisconsin that lost millions of dollars due to being sold derivatives. Leopold then goes on to discuss the origins of the economic crisis and possible solutions.

Les gives a history of money and lending which is quite interesting. He begins to explain how each civilization handled debt laws differently, some allowing interests and some banning it out right. He gives a history of money and how it came about and then explains how the modern financial innovations of the United States last two decades have lead to devastation in the present.

He also makes an argument, similar to Paul Krugman’s in “The Conscience of a Liberal” that the redistribution of wealth from the production economy to the finacncial service economy has been bad for the middle class and has benefited the upper 5% of Americans. Leopold gives possible solutions and approaches to solving the economic problem and possible preventative measures that are quite interesting. One of these solutions, insurance paid by financial institutions to the government to help protect citizens from the effects of the boom bust cycle, was especially fascinating.

The book is well written, although occasionally Leopold comes off as silly when he makes a point. The wine analogy that he uses to explain derivatives and credit default swaps gets tiresome too. Overall, it’s a short, information packed, and interesting book that is worth reading. I rate the book a borrow.

The Conscience of a Liberal

The Conscience of a Liberal, by Paul Krugman, is an analysis of what brought the Republican Right to power and what needs to be done to undo the damage that their anti-government policies have wrecked on the United States. Krugman, a Nobel winning economist, explains that the high quality of life that the middle class of the United States possessed during the fifties and sixties was due to a lack of economic inequality. He also argues that the prosperous era of the mid-twentieth century came to an end because of the policies of the hard right, rather than because of a change of economic circumstance.

Krugman’s analysis of the conservative right was covered more in depth in “The Rise of the Counter-Establishment” and its political machine is made more clear in “Blinded By the Right”. However, Krugman adds more context by explaining how specific conservative policies have led to the wealth of the nation has been shifted to the top 5% by political means and that the middle class has been mugged by those whose money can influence elections. Anti-union policies, as the elimination of many taxes on the wealthiest Americans, are blamed for the United States current circumstances as well as a Republican party willing to use racism, regionalism, and bigotry to win elections.

Krugman wrote the was published in 2007 but manages to explain the problems of creating universal health care and the importance of health care being passed if progressives are to pull the nation from the precipice that the radical right is pushing it towards.

This was a great book, well written, and a surprisingly quick read. I would recommend reading it and rate it a buy.