This Is Cuba

“David Ariosto is a lively and engaging guide to this recent tumultuous period in Cuban history that is so important on both sides of the Florida Straits.” -Lulu Garcia-Navarro, host of NPR's Weekend Edition

USA Today “New and Noteworthy”

One of The Washington Post's “10 Books to Read—and Gift—in December”

This is Cuba is a true story that begins in the summer of 2009 when a young American photo-journalist is offered the chance of a lifetime—a two-year assignment in Havana.

For David Ariosto, the island is an intriguing new world, unmoored from the one he left behind. Beyond the classic cars, salsa, and cigars lies a country in which black markets are ubiquitous, free speech is restricted, privacy is curtailed, sanctions wreak havoc, and an almost Kafka-esque goo of Soviet-style bureaucracy still slows the gears of an economy desperate to move forward.

But life in Cuba is indeed changing, as satellite dishes and internet hotspots dot the landscape and more Americans want in. Still, it’s not so simple. The old sentries on both sides of the Florida Straits remain at their posts, fists clenched and guarding against the specter of a Cold War that never quite ended, despite the death of Fidel and the hand-over of the presidency to a man whose last name isn’t Castro.

And now, a crisis is brewing.

In This Is Cuba, Ariosto looks at Cuba from the inside-out over the course of nine years, endeavoring to expose clues for what’s in store for the island as it undergoes its biggest change in more than half a century.

“Fascinating.” -Forbes