The Foreign Service Journal, March 2012

68 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A R C H 2 0 1 2 Cuba Libro Cuba: The Audacious Revolution George Gedda, CreateSpace, 2011, $12.98/paperback, $4.99/Kindle Edition, 362 pages. R EVIEWED BY J OHN M AISTO Longtime readers of the Foreign Service Journal will instantly recognize George Gedda’s name, both for his decades as the State Department cor- respondent for the Associated Press and his frequent articles in the FSJ . Several of them concerned Cuba, a country he has visited 31 times since 1974. Add to that firsthand experience Gedda’s old-fashioned, source-focused journalism and lively, reader-friendly prose, and the result is Cuba: The Au- dacious Revolution. Anyone who wants to understand this country that has challenged the United States for half a century should acquire it right away. Gedda’s analysis of the history of the U.S.-Cuba relationship, which draws on his many contacts at State, is thor- ough. Still, a brief explanation of how U.S. imperialism from the Spanish- American War until the New Deal helped foment Cuban nationalism would have usefully framed that dis- cussion. Using quotes from Fidel Castro’s speeches over the years, Gedda docu- ments how Castro skillfully conducted the “Audacious Revolution.” He also explains how Castro continues to hold sway long after leaving the Cuban pres- idency. And his account of Havana’s skillful use of medical diplomacy and soft power around the world is a story that most Americans have never heard. The author pulls no punches in de- scribing how Cubans have coped with $1/day wages, rationing, corruption at all levels, the tough post-Soviet econ- omy, the weapons culture, neighbor- hood defense committees and short- ages of medicines (despite health care that is good overall). But he is also careful to give the rev- olution its due, citing health and edu- cation statistics with appropriate context. That said, it would have been instructive to add, perhaps in a foot- note, the fact that other countries in the B O O K S