Cuban Revelations - (Contemporary Cuba) by Marc Frank (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"A vivid, engaging exploration of Cuban politics, culture and economic life."--America

"Considerably deeper than much of the work on the subject. It takes on the challenge of describing what's in a black box with energy and candor."--VisitCuba.com

"The most informative, accurate, insightful, detailed account available on twenty-first century Cuba."--HavanaTimes.org

"Marc Frank is the best foreign journalist reporting from Cuba today. We now have a behind-the-scenes look at the changes large and small taking place as the Cuban revolution molts from Fidel to Raúl to the next generation."--Julia Sweig, author of Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know

"A must-read book to grasp what has been happening in Cuba over the past ten years."--Wayne Smith, director of the Cuba Project, Center for International Policy

"Frank enriches his fascinating reportage with his unparalleled access to expressive Cubans from all walks of life."--Richard Feinberg, University of California, San Diego

"With a sharp eye for human detail and a clear understanding of what makes Cuba tick, Frank's narrative bears eloquent, balanced, and always sensitive witness to the troubled trajectory of Cuba from the 'dark days' of the 1990s economic collapse through to the challenging changes under Raúl. It genuinely gets 'inside' the otherwise confusing system and society, and is all the more welcome for that."--Antoni Kapcia, coeditor of The Changing Dynamic of Cuban Civil Society

"Gripping and insightful. It is rare indeed to find reporting as authoritative and well sourced as this about what remains an impenetrable and opaque regime."--Michael Reid, author of Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul

As a U.S.-born journalist who has called Havana home for almost a quarter century, Mark Frank has observed in person the best days of the revolution, the fall of the Soviet bloc, the great depression of the 1990s, the stepping aside of Fidel Castro, and the reforms now being devised by his brother. In Cuban Revelations, Frank offers a first-hand account of daily life in Cuba at the turn of the twenty-first century, the start of a new and dramatic epoch for islanders and the Cuban diaspora.

Examining the effects of U.S. policy toward Cuba, Frank analyzes why Cuba has entered an extraordinary, irreversible period of change and considers what the island's future holds. The enormous social engineering project taking place today under Raúl's leadership is fraught with many dangers, and Cuban Revelations follows the new leader's efforts to overcome bureaucratic resistance and the fears of a populace that stand in his way.

In addition, Frank offers a colorful chronicle of his travels across the island's many and varied provinces, sharing candid interviews with people from all walks of life. He takes the reader outside the capital to reveal how ordinary Cubans live and what they are thinking and feeling as fifty-year-old social and economic taboos are broken. He shares his honest and unbiased observations on extraordinary positive developments in social matters, like healthcare and education, as well as on the inefficiencies in the Cuban economy.

Ultimately, Cuban Revelations is an objective account by a reporter who has lived with the Cubans for many years as their old world falls apart and they set about trying to build a new one.

Review Quotes

"A must-read. . . . Essential for a sharper grasp of Cuban-American relations and the role American politics plays in the sovereignty of this independent state."--Library Journal


"A remarkably rich, gritty account of daily life today in the twilight of Caribbean socialism."--Foreign Affairs


"An incisive, revealing portrait of a nation on the brink of transformation."--Booklist


"Despite Cuba's controlled media environment, Frank managed to open doors to information not readily available to others, a testament to his intrepid reporting."--Americas Quarterly


"Excellent."--Tim Cole, British Ambassador to Cuba

"[A] detailed investigation of Raul Castro's reforms since his unexpected appointment to power in the summer of 2006."--New York Review of Books

"Fascinating."--Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post

"Our top non-fiction pick. Cuban Revelations is a well-documented and insightful view of the last twenty-years in Cuban history."--Cuba Counterpoints

"The most useful accounts, hands down, of contemporary Cuba."--CubaNews

About the Author

Marc Frank is a U.S.-born journalist who has called Havana home for almost a quarter century. He has observed the best days of the revolution, the fall of the Soviet bloc, the great depression of the 1990s, the stepping aside of Fidel Castro, and the reforms now being devised by Raul.