Rating: 
Summary: An important and timely book
Review: In a time when US activists will argue that a young boy should not be reunited with his Cuban father, C. Peter Ripley's Conversations with Cuba is an important book. In a distillation of his experiences gathered in multiple visits to Cuba in the 1990s, Ripley introduces the reader to the changes taking place in Cuba. Combining his skill as an astute observer and articulate writer, Ripley challenges the language and imagery long used in the west to isolate and create mistrust of Cuba and its revolution.Conversations with Cuba makes plain that a diversity of opinion exists within Cuba about the revolution. Ripley discusses the dual problem Cuba faces as it transitions to a capitalist economy while continuing to care for its people as promised by the original revolutionary cadre of Fidel, Che, and others. Ripley learns that the struggle to achieve these potentially conflicting goals creates dissatisfaction for some, while for others an abiding faith in the revolution persists. Through the revolutionary affirming experience of his "fixer", Paulo, Ripley asks the reader to reconsider the long-held, rarely questioned stereotypes of Cuba. Just as Paulo reconsiders his views about the revolution, Ripley offers hope that the US can abandon the negative views of Cuba and consider the island and its people as they really exist.
Rating: 
Summary: An author you just want to smack in the head...
Review: It is hard to put one's finger on just what it is about this guy that is so damn annoying. Maybe it's the way he spouts off "facts" about Cuba that would appear to have been gleaned from Reader's Digest. Maybe it is the way he reminds one of that pesky "authority" sitting next to you on an international flight who deems it his responsibility to enlighten everyone else in coach. Or maybe it is just that he appears to be so damn american. Whatever it is, it is creepy. Pick it up at your library and give it a quick read some afternoon, but only after you have read works by more credible authors. There are scores out there with more credibility on this subject.
Rating:
Summary: An author you just want to smack in the head...
Review: It is hard to put one's finger on just what it is about this guy that is so damn annoying. Maybe it's the way he spouts off "facts" about Cuba that would appear to have been gleaned from Reader's Digest. Maybe it is the way he reminds one of that pesky "authority" sitting next to you on an international flight who deems it his responsibility to enlighten everyone else in coach. Or maybe it is just that he appears to be so damn american. Whatever it is, it is creepy. Pick it up at your library and give it a quick read some afternoon, but only after you have read works by more credible authors. There are scores out there with more credibility on this subject.
Rating:
Summary: Viva La C.P. Ripley
Review: Ripley's writings on contemporary Cuba brings the reader to the hearts and minds of the Cuban people and culture. Through his eyes we experience the warmth, beauty and guile of the characters. Our senses are inundated with his descriptive prose of everyday life in Cuba. The main thing I take from this reading is that we the people of the United States have been deprived of access to an extraordinary culture.
Rating:
Summary: Intellectually Honest
Review: Superior work that puts the reader on five tours of Cuba and allows you to talk to Cubans who stayed and to experience the wonderful island paradise. The writer admits that he idealized the Revolution and wants it to work but still shows the numerous ways that it hasn't work and that the island is in trouble. I enjoyed his conversations with Cubans and the Cubans' resilent nature. Great background information for a novice to Latin American relations like myself who only recently gained interest in the island due to its recent commercial musical success. Conservatives and Castro haters will dislike Ripley's point of view, which may be unfair -- the work seems intellectually honest.
Rating:
Summary: Intellectually Honest
Review: Superior work that puts the reader on five tours of Cuba and allows you to talk to Cubans who stayed and to experience the wonderful island paradise. The writer admits that he idealized the Revolution and wants it to work but still shows the numerous ways that it hasn't work and that the island is in trouble. I enjoyed his conversations with Cubans and the Cubans' resilent nature. Great background information for a novice to Latin American relations like myself who only recently gained interest in the island due to its recent commercial musical success. Conservatives and Castro haters will dislike Ripley's point of view, which may be unfair -- the work seems intellectually honest.
Rating:
Summary: Awful book ...
Review: This book blows. Buy the book by Christopher Hunt, "Waiting for Fidel", which is funnier and more accurate (albeit also flawed by a no-fun author). This book tries to be ponderous, serious, weighty, but with no analysis, just postering. The author is an ... (or at least claims to be) when Cuba is in fact crying out as a place to have fun. The author tries to engage in seditious conversation about politics at every turn, when most people (and I have visited Cuba) just want to get on with life. What a bore and waste of money. I almost think the author threw together this book so he can claim that he is a professor who has published. By the way, the author should educate himself when railing against the U.S. embargo as the root of Cuba's ills--according to the Cato Institute, the embargo is not that disruptive--the fault lies in communism. But again, I don't care about politics, just trying to point out how limited in scope the author's views are....braying about politics, never having fun...on and on and on and...well, I've made my point.
Rating:
Summary: Awful book ...
Review: This book blows. Buy the book by Christopher Hunt, "Waiting for Fidel", which is funnier and more accurate (albeit also flawed by a no-fun author). This book tries to be ponderous, serious, weighty, but with no analysis, just postering. The author is an ... (or at least claims to be) when Cuba is in fact crying out as a place to have fun. The author tries to engage in seditious conversation about politics at every turn, when most people (and I have visited Cuba) just want to get on with life. What a bore and waste of money. I almost think the author threw together this book so he can claim that he is a professor who has published. By the way, the author should educate himself when railing against the U.S. embargo as the root of Cuba's ills--according to the Cato Institute, the embargo is not that disruptive--the fault lies in communism. But again, I don't care about politics, just trying to point out how limited in scope the author's views are....braying about politics, never having fun...on and on and on and...well, I've made my point.
Rating:
Summary: Compassionate, intelligent depiction of Cuba today
Review: This is an articulate and compelling perspective on Cuba in a period of rapid change. An important and exceedingly well written first-hand account of Cuba told by an well-informed compassionate viewer with all senses completely engaged and interacting directly with the Cuban people. A good antidote to less well-informed authors presenting Cuba as monochromatic and repressed. This is an important and timely book, required reading for those interested in today's Cuba and tired of literature devoid of passion.
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