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.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel” is a brilliant analysis of how societies form and how technology is developed. He shows that, while culture and native intelligence is important, environment has a great impact on how a society develops. I first read this book for a Technology and Culture class in graduate school and was very impressed by it.

Jared Diamond starts with the premise that humans are basically similar in intelligence and drive on average. He then explores the environmental differences throughout history that each group of human beings has faced, and how these differences affected the development of technology, culture, and society.

Jared demonstrates that human beings, when shown new technology and foodstuffs that are useful, take advantage of them, and that much of the success of many societies has to do with experience learned from the past and advantageous environment. Diamond shows how agriculture throughout the world came about. He explains how the geography of an area could affect the nature of the crops that were available to a population and in turn the cultural development of a society. His largest example is comparing the cyclical crops of Eurasia. The Eurasian crops, due to the changes in weather, had regular growing and planting times allowing agriculturalist to plan for the future. In climates that were more extreme, such options were not there and this slowed down their agricultural development. This is just one of many interesting agricultural facts that he brings up in his book.

Jared also explains how the availability of animals that could be domesticated was important because it lead to the contraction of diseases for which immunities could be developed. When the West entered the New World, they found populations that had not domesticated many animals and so the West infected them with diseases for which they had no immunities. I am oversimplifying his argument, but hope that what I have written in regards to agriculture and animal husbandry inspires you to buy the book.

Diamond discusses how cultures either embrace or reject technological advancements based on how connected they are to other societies, or how decentralized and interactive their cultures are. He also explains how elites, or plutocracies, evolve. It is a fascinating book. I would recommend buying the “Guns, Germs and Steel” I bought the hardcover and it sits prominently on my bookshelf.

Diary of a Tired Black Man

Diary of a Tired Black Man is high concept and low quality. It was written, shot, and produced by Tim Alexander. I don’t think it is because of any laziness on Tim Alexander’s part, I just simply think it’s hard to make a film. It’s a little bit documentary, a little bit feature film. It’s the story of a Black man who has divorced a Black woman and the personal and relationship issues that led to their separation.

The film has a good message; don’t carry your baggage from a former relationship into your present one. The issue of some Black women, and men to be honest, punishing their current partner for the mistakes of a past one is valid. Tim Alexander also focuses on how the problems between men and women while raising a child lead to generational problems in terms of relationships in the community. I was also very impressed by a portion of the film where the lead character, James, had to come to terms with his own role in choosing a woman with whom he was not a good match. I think that helped the film simply being a female bashing answer to men bashing films and books. For these reasons alone it’s worth giving a look. That’s the good.

The bad is abundant as well. The acting is not great throughout most of the film, although the lead actor Jimmy Jean-Louis does a good job. Tim, when interviewing people on the street came across as aggrieved at times. Sometimes messages in the film that could have been delivered with subtlety were delivered with way too much force. In other words he lays it on kind of thick. It also gets a little long near the end. However, over all the film had a worthwhile message and is worth watching. Despite some rough patches, the good moments are really excellent. I rate it a rent.

The End of Suburbia

Oil and the suburbs, that’s what this film is about. The End of Suburbia is a film that explores the history and future of suburban America. We are a nation that is dependent on foreign oil, but this was not always the case. When America was awash in its own oil resources the automobile was seen as a way to utilize this natural resource. The creation of the American suburbs was made possible by the car, and peak oil may be the end of it.

The film, The End of Suburbia, is a fascinating study of how the limited resource of oil an our culture of consumption may have vast and far reaching consequences on our future. Various scientists and futurist discuss how the quality of American life had declined due to suburban life and how it is likely to continue to do so because our lifestyles are not sustainable.

I would rank this a rent. It is a good film, but probably does not have a great deal of re-watch value. It is useful for any students or political scientists who are working on papers regarding our depleting natural resources, but is a little dry at times. Check it out.