Inside the Revolution

by Mona Rosendahl

Book Overview

The first ethnographic study of life in Cuba to emerge in over twenty years, Inside the Revolution offers a rare, close view of how socialist ideology translates into everyday experience in one Cuban municipality. Mona Rosendahl draws on eighteen months of fieldwork, in a municipality she calls by the fictional name Palmera, to present a vivid account of the lives and thoughts of residents, many of whom have lived inside the revolution for more...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080148412X
• ISBN13: 9780801484124
• Release Date: December 1997
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

In Defense of this book

This book does read like a master's thesis, in that it is full of statistics and survey results, and has an opening and a conclusion. Despite the sometimes academic style of writing, this book provides an important service: it answers the question, "What is it like to live under Fidel? What does the Revolution mean to everyday Cubans?" Rosendahl makes it clear that this study is based on her experience while living in a small town in a fairly agricultural area, and does not necessarily reflect the feelings of Cubans living in Havana, and certainly makes no comment on the outlook of Cuban exiles in the US. What it does do is give as broad and balanced a perspective as possible of how the communist revolution affects aspects of everyday life, such as schooling, shopping, and interpersonal relationships. The study took place in the 1980's, so it is only in the brief epilogue that Rosendahl has a chance to comment on the devestating effects of the collapse of the Soviet Union. In response to the previous reviewer, the feminist notions that Rosendahl presents are that women are equal to men, and the claims that socialism has been good for Cuba in part can be easily supported by standard of living statistics available from the UN. In conclusion, though the style could be improved, this book provides unique insight into life in Communist Cuba.