Cuba Changes Its Economic Course for Privatization

In a push to privatize businesses, Cuban officials said they will remove some one million state employees from the payroll ("Capitalist Storm Clouds Loom over Havana after State Cuts 1m Jobs," The Guardian, September 14, 2010). Workers in sugar, public health, tourism and agriculture will face the first layoffs followed by civil aviation and the ministries of foreign relations and social services. The unemployed will be encouraged to "form private co-operatives or set up their own small businesses." Still others will be moved toward jobs run by foreign interests.

Review selected library titles related to Cuba, its politics and economy at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a listed item, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3219 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words and phrases to find more in the library catalog:

• Cuba foreign relations
• Cuba politics
• Fidel Castro

Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know by Julia E. Sweig - Oxford University Press, 2009.
call number: 972.91 Swe
"Using a Q&A format, this most recent book in the publisher's "What Everyone Needs To Know" series is more about Cuba's relationship with the United States than it is about Cuba. Sweig (director, Latin American studies, Council on Foreign Relations; Inside the Cuban Revolution) is eminently qualified to write on Cuba, Castro, and the long, shared history with American political, strategic, and economic interests." - Library Journal review excerpt

That Infernal Little Cuban Republic: The United States and the Cuban Revolution by Lars Schoultz - University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
call number: 327.73 Sch
"Schoultz, a University of North Carolina political science professor, offers an exhaustive study of the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba in the 20th and early 21st centuries. . .it's an approachable, deeply satisfying narrative with a clear-eyed and persuasive critique of U.S. policy toward Cuba and, more broadly, of U.S. policy toward any weaker nation that has ever stubbornly asserted its sovereignty." - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana, and Washington by Ann Louise Bardach - Scribner, 2009.
call number: 972.91 Bar
"Bardach doesn't skimp on the politics or the day-to-day obstacles of Cuban civilians living in grinding poverty. Bardach opens the window wide on the "diplomatic train wreck" that is U.S.-Cuban relations, including Miami's exile community, anti-Castro Beltway establishment members, and the history of U.S. attempts to remove Castro from power. . .Bardach's unmatched access to Castro and other major players makes this a thorough account of a long-lived world figure who, admired or reviled, is an undoubtedly fascinating subject." - Publishers Weekly review excerpt