Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba
The Biography of a Cause
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Narrated by:
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Robertson Dean
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By:
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Tom Gjelten
About this listen
In this widely hailed book, NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten fuses the story of the Bacardi family and their famous rum business with Cuba's tumultuous experience over the last 150 years to produce a deeply entertaining historical narrative. The company Facundo Bacardi, launched in Cuba in 1862, brought worldwide fame to the island, and in the decades that followed, his Bacardi descendants participated in every aspect of Cuban life. With his intimate account of their struggles and adventures across five generations, Gjelten brings to life the larger story of Cuba's fight for freedom, its tortured relationship with America, the rise of Fidel Castro, and the violent division of the Cuban nation.
©2017 Tom Gjelten (P)2017 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"The Bacardi liquor story is every bit as engaging as Cuba's tumultuous political history, and both narrative strands are inexorably intertwined." (The Washington Post)
"A gripping saga that tells us just as much about human nature and the struggle between power and freedom as it does about Bacardi's transformation from a fledgling business into the world's top family-owned distiller." (The Wall Street Journal)
"It's hard to imagine that any [Cuban history] is as enjoyable...as smooth and refreshing as a well-made daiquiri." (Barry Gewen, The New York Times)
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The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president—the only complete biography in English–that fully captures his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history, by the former New York Times Moscow bureau chief.
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A retelling of facts without much added info
- By A. M. on 03-07-16
By: Steven Lee Myers
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New World Coming
- The 1920s and the Making of Modern America
- By: Nathan Miller
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 18 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Jazz. Bootleggers. Flappers. Talkies. Model T Fords. Lindbergh's history-making flight over the Atlantic. The 1920s was also the decade of the hard-won vote for women, racial injustice, censorship, social conflict, and the birth of organized crime.
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My High School History Class Never Told
- By Charles Stembridge on 06-29-04
By: Nathan Miller
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Saudi, Inc.
- The Arabian Kingdom's Pursuit of Profit and Power
- By: Ellen R. Wald PhD
- Narrated by: Paul Ansdell
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Over more than a century, fed by ambition and oil wealth, al Saud (as the royal family is known) has come from having next to nothing to ruling as absolute monarchs. Their story starts with Saudi Arabia's founder, the lowly refugee Abdul Aziz, embarking on a daring gambit to reconquer his family's ancestral home: the mud-walled city of Riyadh. And it ends with al Saud's most ambitious move yet: taking Aramco, the multinational business that has made them the wealthiest family in the world, public.
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Excellent modern history of Saudi Arabia
- By Rob Hafen on 05-31-18
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Overthrow
- America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals.
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Looking at the dark side
- By Stanley on 08-02-06
By: Stephen Kinzer
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Black Titan
- A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire
- By: Carol Jenkins
- Narrated by: Susan Spain
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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A.G. Gaston, the poor grandson of slaves, was born in the Deep South in 1892. Over the course of his extraordinary life, he amassed a fortune of over $130 million and a vast business empire. The story of his remarkable life is written with eloquence and grace by his niece, an Emmy¿ Award-winning journalist and her daughter, who holds degrees from Yale and Harvard.
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Black Gold = Standing Ovation
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By: Carol Jenkins
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Hoover
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- By: Kenneth Whyte
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 27 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The definitive biography of Herbert Hoover, one of the most remarkable Americans of the 20th century - a revisionist account that will forever change the way Americans understand the man, his presidency, and his battle against the Great Depression. A poor orphan who built a fortune, a great humanitarian, a president elected in a landslide and then routed in the next election, arguably the father of both New Deal liberalism and modern conservatism - Herbert Hoover is also one of our least understood presidents.
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What a fascinating story!
- By Dan Ryan on 11-18-17
By: Kenneth Whyte
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A History of the American People
- By: Paul Johnson
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 48 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Johnson's monumental history of the United States, from the first settlers to the Clinton administration, covers every aspect of American culture: politics, business, art, literature, science, society and customs, complex traditions, and religious beliefs. The story is told in terms of the men and women who shaped and led the nation and the ordinary people who collectively created its unique character.
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A British conservative's view of American history.
- By Mike From Mesa on 06-17-09
By: Paul Johnson
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Jacksonland
- President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab
- By: Steve Inskeep
- Narrated by: Steve Inskeep
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Jacksonland is the thrilling narrative history of two men - President Andrew Jackson and Cherokee chief John Ross - who led their respective nations at a crossroads of American history. Five decades after the Revolutionary War, the United States approached a constitutional crisis. At its center stood two former military comrades locked in a struggle that tested the boundaries of our fledgling democracy. Jacksonland is their story.
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Fantastic and Thoughtful
- By Elizabeth Westbrook on 05-05-16
By: Steve Inskeep
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The Bin Ladens
- An Arabian Family in the American Century
- By: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Erik Singer
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
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Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the national best seller Ghost Wars, Steve Coll presents the story of the Bin Laden family's rise to power and privilege, revealing new information to show how American influences changed the family and how one member's rebellion changed America.
By: Steve Coll
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The Man Without a Face
- The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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The Man Without a Face is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to its own people and to the world.
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A Preview of Authoritarianism in the USA
- By Jimmy O on 06-08-19
By: Masha Gessen
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Stalin, Volume I
- Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928
- By: Stephen Kotkin
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 38 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Volume One of Stalin begins and ends in January 1928 as Stalin boards a train bound for Siberia, about to embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He is now the ruler of the largest country in the world, but a poor and backward one, far behind the great capitalist countries in industrial and military power, encircled on all sides. In Siberia, Stalin conceives of the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted.
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Excellent Book But First Time Listener Beware
- By Nostromo on 03-23-15
By: Stephen Kotkin
What listeners say about Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Deborah J. Leighton
- 09-21-18
Loved the book!
This was a fabulous book. I was unaware of the rich family history of the Bacardi family and heir Cuban struggles. Never knew Bacardi was originally a Cuban rum; and Bacardi was the first “hard liquor” I drank. I purchased the book for friends who have visited Cuba. I Highly recommend the audible version and the “read.” I did both, as the photos in the book are very helpful and provide context for the story.
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1 person found this helpful
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- K2
- 07-18-19
An incredible story
Perhaps one of the best books I’ve read/heard in years. Provides incredible detail on an incredible family and their company, that survived the destruction is their country. A story that has yet to play out.
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- Ana Hernandez
- 05-08-20
Good but need a real bilingual reader
As a 1st generation Cuban-American, I truly enjoyed hearing the history of Cuba from the Bacardi perspective. I do wish the reader was truly bilingual and not just someone who kind of knows Spanish. Some of his pronunciations of Spanish words made me cringe a little.
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- Frank in Va
- 10-27-23
Great history for a non history type person.
I'm really glad that I got this book not only did I learn more about the bacardi's I learned more about the timeline of Cuba revolutions
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- RRV
- 10-29-17
Brilliantly written , amazing performance .
A really wonderful story that not only tells the truth of Cuba ( I am Cuban born) but gives the reader a deep look in to the Bacardi family and its company.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-29-17
Powerful
My best friends are Cubans. I never understood the passion they speak with when it comes to Cuba and her history. After this book it opened my eyes to love of this island and her rum playing a major roll in a ever changing country.
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- RODOLFO DAVALOS
- 03-06-22
Life-changing story.
Every Cuban should listen to this book at least one time in his life. And no person should make a judgment about Cuban history or even speak about the History of Cuba, without having read this book.
It describes accurately the original foundation of the Cuban spirit of patriotism and love for the fatherland.
It describes the sacrifices of thousands of Cubans to gain their independence, its struggle to keep it, and how it was lost more than 60 years ago.
It describes the resilience of the Cuban emigrants, their virtue, their capacity to grow over again after disgrace and adversity, and the commitment and will to never surrender.
Bacardi is not only a good liqueur, it's the spirit of the Cuban people in exile. The story of Bacardi, is as remarkable as beautiful and it is deservedly tied for good, to the Cuban history.
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- S. O.
- 04-30-19
Great!
This book is incredible. I loved every chapter. The history of scuba and Bacardi are intertwined beautifully.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Gregory E Benoit
- 02-21-19
Incredible. Fascinating and enlightening
Absolutely fantastic. Explains so much of the history and politics of Cuba and of the Cuban exiles in the US. All while telling the story of the Bacardi family and company - a story fascinating on its own. Amazing.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-09-22
Not worth your time
Often blatantly ahistorical, caters to the long, belligerent, and unsuccessful American opposition to Cuba. Just a poorly assembled cluster of all the same tired anti cuba narratives Americans have trumpeted since the 60s and a few interesting anecdotes about the early years of the Bacardi business.
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1 person found this helpful