In How Things Fall Apart Elizabeth Dore reveals the decay of the Cuban political system through the lives of seven ordinary Cuban citizens. Born in the 1970s and 1980s, they recount how their lives changed over a tumultuous stretch of thirty-five years: first when Fidel Castro opened the country to tourism following the fall of the Soviet bloc; then when Raúl Castro allowed market forces to operate; and finally when President Trump’s tightening of the US embargo combined with the COVID-19 pandemic caused economic collapse. With warmth and humanity, they describe learning to survive in an environment where a tiny minority has grown rich, the great majority has been left behind, and inequality has destroyed the very things that used to give meaning to Cubans’ lives. In this book, everyday Cubans illuminate their own stories and the slow and agonizing decline of the Cuban Revolution.
- Cover
- Contents
- Prologue
- 1. The Narrators
- 2. Backstory
- 3. Fidel’s Fall, An Omen
- Part 1: The 1980S
- 4. Mario Sánchez Cortéz
- 5. Alina Rodríguez Abreu
- 6. Juan Guillard Matus
- 7. Racism
- 8. Esteban Cabrera Montes
- 9. Barbara Vegas
- 10. Fidel Castro
- 11. Pavel García Rojas
- Part 2: Fidel and the Collapse, 1990–2006
- 12. Mario Sánchez Cortéz
- 13. Alina Rodríguez Abreu
- 14. Juan Guillard Matus
- 15. Esteban Cabrera Montes
- 16. Barbara Vegas
- 17. Pavel García Rojas
- 18. Alejandro Espada Betancourt
- Part 3: Inequality, 2006–20
- 19. Mario Sánchez Cortéz
- 20. Alina Rodríguez Abreu
- 21. Juan Guillard Matus
- 22. Raúl Castro: The General
- 23. Esteban Cabrera Montes
- 24. Barbara Vegas
- 25. Pavel García Rojas
- 26. Alejandro Espada Betancourt
- Conclusion
- My Thanks
- Endnotes
- Index
Text
Audio
Adobe DRM
Login to your account