Margaret Randall is an American who lived in Cuba from 1969 through 1980 with her four children. She then moved to Nicaragua until 1984 when she returned to the U.S. and has since made her home in New Mexico. She also previously lived in Spain as well as Mexico from which she was forced to leave through the underground. After her return to the U.S. in 1984 she was deported and had to get through legal battles to regain her U.S. citizenship.

Although certainly aware that she lived with privilege in Cuba, Randall attempted to live as much like a Cuban as possible under that circumstance, e.g. sending her children to Cuban schools, using the Cuban health care system, living within the Cuban food rationing system. She also traveled alone extensively throughout Cuba which gave her the opportunity to compare the poverty of some areas with better areas and to see the duality of living conditions. Randall worked in Cuba as a writer, a photographer, an editor and some other positions. She participated in international conferences in Cuba as well as other countries, experiencing the trust of the Cuban government in using her as their representative, as well as later repression by the same government. During this time she worked and networked with many recognizable names among the Castro administration as well others such as Daniel Ortega. It is from this experience and perspective that Randall deeply examines many issues of the Cuban and other revolutionary governments. These topics are addressed in individual chapters although somewhat interwoven into a narrative form.

In the light of the current Egyptian revolution and the Occupy Wall Street activity in the U.S. I was especially interested in her chapter about transitioning from a dictatorship to a socialist communist government. It was fascinating to see how some of the changes were made, what things were tried, succeeded, failed, and were redesigned. Some of the major accomplishments of the new government were of course universal health care and education and the literacy movement. Infant mortality rates were lowered and life expectancy extended as well as reaching a 99% literacy rate. These are amazing and wonderful accomplishments in themselves, although other things were given lower priority. Thus you see a literate, healthy and well fed population living in very poor housing due to those priorities. The nutrition and amount of calories were met in most cases, but not with as much variety as desired, and these tradeoffs were addressed. It would be very easy to go through what might be perceived as ghetto buildings and make quick judgements about the government without knowing about these other priorities.

It is not enough to look only at literacy rates without examining freedom of the press and the publishing industry. There is much discussion in the country about a balance here and questioning of the ability to freely address and solve problems if people are afraid to disagree or criticize, in fear of imprisonment and torture.

Another subject examined is feminism, which was given a low priority, as the belief was expressed that that equality would unfold automatically as the movement progressed. Randall initially succumbed to this thinking but later grew to believe that those inequities should have been addressed from the beginning. Sexuality is included in this discussion as homosexual people were also mistreated. The practice of religion is talked about and Randall believes there should have been more tolerance.

The issue of power and the old idea that power corrupts is seen to hold true once again. Although Randall seems to be a fan of Castro, she is not blinded to this corruption and privilege that comes with power and concludes that government MUST come from the bottom up with no one holding power too long. It is sad to see these things come to light in beloved figures not only in Cuba but especially in Ortega of Nicaragua. So we end up back where we started, with human nature perhaps more than the method of governance coming through strong. And it may be the acceptance of that humanity that could lead to accepting our faults and mistake and moving on, without such need for blame and scapegoating.

I especially enjoyed Randall's chapter on culture, focusing not only on the importance of art and posters, literature, music, etc., but mainly on poetry. I have read [[Pablo Neruda]] but really developed a deeper understanding of the meaning and importance of poetry and culture in driving government. Interesting that the day I am writing this, I read an article by [[Chris Hedges]] that addressed the need for protest music, art and other aspects of culture to keep people hopeful and working toward change.

I also enjoyed learning about Randall's oral history work, especially with women of the revolution, and will be reading her other books in this particular area.

This appears to be a balanced perspective. Five stars and highly recommended. ( )