
Everyday Cuba for Non-Cubans: Beyond the Resort Cliché
A Perspective on Contemporary Cuban Society, Struggles, and Opportunities for Economic Growth
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $14.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Nick Young
-
By:
-
Araz Jahani
About this listen
This audiobook touches on the following topics:
- How life is outside of the Cuban resorts
- Realities of Cuba and the current economic problems related to healthcare, tourism, food supply
- Sanctions, embargo (bloqueo) in Cuba
- Economic recovery opportunities for Cuba through production, export, technology, and artificial intelligence
- Brief history of Cuba
What happens when you venture outside the boundaries of a prepackaged travel experience and truly expose yourself to the history, economics, and culture of a country other than your own? We are all familiar with the Cuban cliché: decaying colonial architecture, soulful salsa dancing, refreshing cocktails by the seaside - paradise, in a nutshell. We also share a superficial understanding of Cuba’s troubled political history and economic struggles over the last decades.
For Araz Jahani, that superficial knowing was not enough. Armed with nothing but vague assumptions and a desire to flee the inclement Canadian weather, Jahani first ventured to Cuba in 2004 and has since been unable to stay away. Each trip to the island has revealed how truly little we understand about the day-to-day struggles of Cuban people, the role tourism plays in perpetuating biased views about it as a destination, and the challenges new generations must face as they reshape their country’s future.
In Everyday Cuba for Non-Cubans, Jahani has captured his first-hand experiences exploring the island and befriending its people. He offers a blueprint to new travelers wishing to have what he had: a life-changing adventure beyond the resort walls, beyond the preconceptions, into the heart and soul of a Cuba that, out of comfort, ignorance, or neglect, very few of us ever see. If you ever catch yourself fantasizing about the real Cuba and hope to turn your fantasy into a real adventure, this book is the place to start.
©2020 Araz Jahaniaval (P)2021 Araz JahaniavalListeners also enjoyed...
-
Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize)
- An American History
- By: Ada Ferrer
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo, Ada Ferrer - prologue
- Length: 23 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continued—through the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Raúl Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country’s future. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba provides us with a front-row seat as we witness the evolution of the modern nation.
-
-
US Bash Job
- By Derek & Amber Witt on 04-14-22
By: Ada Ferrer
-
The Cubans
- Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times
- By: Anthony DePalma
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Anthony DePalma
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cubans today, most of whom have lived their entire lives under the Castro regime, are hesitantly embracing the future. In his new book, Anthony DePalma, a veteran reporter with years of experience in Cuba, focuses on a neighborhood across the harbor from Old Havana to dramatize the optimism as well as the enormous challenges that Cubans face: a moving snapshot of Cuba with all its contradictions as the new regime opens the gate to the capitalism that Fidel railed against for so long.
-
-
Enlightening and eye-opening
- By Amee Arledge on 07-21-22
By: Anthony DePalma
-
History of Cuba: A Captivating Guide to Cuban History, Starting from Christopher Columbus' Arrival to Fidel Castro
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L Walton
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The themes of the history of Cuba are as vast as they are inspiring. Cuba has stared death in the face throughout its rocky history, and most of the time it has gazed into the eyes of death and smiled. Over and over, oppressors have attempted to seize this island and its riches for their own selfish purposes. And over and over, revolutions have risen up to conquer in an attempt to return Cuba to its people.
-
-
A good quick History of Cuba
- By Amazon Customer on 07-28-20
-
Cuba Libre!
- Che, Fidel, and the Improbable Revolution That Changed World History
- By: Tony Perrottet
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historian and journalist Tony Perrottet chronicles the events of the Cuban Revolution and the figures at the center of the guerrilla uprising: Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and the scrappy band of rebel men and women who followed them.
-
-
HUGE anti-commie here...
- By Don C. on 10-22-21
By: Tony Perrottet
-
Cuba: A Captivating Guide to the History of Cuba and Havana, The Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L Walton, David Patton, Desmond Manny
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The themes of the history of Cuba are as vast as they are inspiring. Cuba has stared death in the face throughout its rocky history, and most of the time it has gazed into the eyes of death and smiled. Over and over, oppressors have attempted to seize this island and its riches for their own selfish purposes. And over and over, revolutions have risen up to conquer in an attempt to return Cuba to its people. The story of Cuba is a tale of courage and sacrifice, of horrific oppression and inspiring vision.
-
-
Ignorance and revisionism posing as history.
- By Luis Sastre on 02-21-19
-
This Is Cuba
- An American Journalist Under Castro's Shadow
- By: David Ariosto
- Narrated by: David Ariosto
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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. From neighboring military coups, suspected honey traps, salty spooks, and desperate migrants to dissidents, doctors, and Havana’s empty shelves, Ariosto uncovers the island’s subtle absurdities, its Cold War mystique, and the hopes of a people in the throes of transition.
-
-
You're really none the wiser
- By Buretto on 01-10-19
By: David Ariosto
-
Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize)
- An American History
- By: Ada Ferrer
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo, Ada Ferrer - prologue
- Length: 23 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continued—through the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Raúl Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country’s future. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba provides us with a front-row seat as we witness the evolution of the modern nation.
-
-
US Bash Job
- By Derek & Amber Witt on 04-14-22
By: Ada Ferrer
-
The Cubans
- Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times
- By: Anthony DePalma
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Anthony DePalma
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cubans today, most of whom have lived their entire lives under the Castro regime, are hesitantly embracing the future. In his new book, Anthony DePalma, a veteran reporter with years of experience in Cuba, focuses on a neighborhood across the harbor from Old Havana to dramatize the optimism as well as the enormous challenges that Cubans face: a moving snapshot of Cuba with all its contradictions as the new regime opens the gate to the capitalism that Fidel railed against for so long.
-
-
Enlightening and eye-opening
- By Amee Arledge on 07-21-22
By: Anthony DePalma
-
History of Cuba: A Captivating Guide to Cuban History, Starting from Christopher Columbus' Arrival to Fidel Castro
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L Walton
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The themes of the history of Cuba are as vast as they are inspiring. Cuba has stared death in the face throughout its rocky history, and most of the time it has gazed into the eyes of death and smiled. Over and over, oppressors have attempted to seize this island and its riches for their own selfish purposes. And over and over, revolutions have risen up to conquer in an attempt to return Cuba to its people.
-
-
A good quick History of Cuba
- By Amazon Customer on 07-28-20
-
Cuba Libre!
- Che, Fidel, and the Improbable Revolution That Changed World History
- By: Tony Perrottet
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historian and journalist Tony Perrottet chronicles the events of the Cuban Revolution and the figures at the center of the guerrilla uprising: Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and the scrappy band of rebel men and women who followed them.
-
-
HUGE anti-commie here...
- By Don C. on 10-22-21
By: Tony Perrottet
-
Cuba: A Captivating Guide to the History of Cuba and Havana, The Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L Walton, David Patton, Desmond Manny
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The themes of the history of Cuba are as vast as they are inspiring. Cuba has stared death in the face throughout its rocky history, and most of the time it has gazed into the eyes of death and smiled. Over and over, oppressors have attempted to seize this island and its riches for their own selfish purposes. And over and over, revolutions have risen up to conquer in an attempt to return Cuba to its people. The story of Cuba is a tale of courage and sacrifice, of horrific oppression and inspiring vision.
-
-
Ignorance and revisionism posing as history.
- By Luis Sastre on 02-21-19
-
This Is Cuba
- An American Journalist Under Castro's Shadow
- By: David Ariosto
- Narrated by: David Ariosto
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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. From neighboring military coups, suspected honey traps, salty spooks, and desperate migrants to dissidents, doctors, and Havana’s empty shelves, Ariosto uncovers the island’s subtle absurdities, its Cold War mystique, and the hopes of a people in the throes of transition.
-
-
You're really none the wiser
- By Buretto on 01-10-19
By: David Ariosto
-
Havana Nocturne
- How the Mob Owned Cuba...and Then Lost It to the Revolution
- By: T. J. English
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Havana Nocturne takes listeners back to Cuba in the years when it was a veritable devil's playground for mob leaders Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Thanks to strong ties with the island's brutal dictator, President Batista, the mob soon owned the biggest luxury hotels and casinos and launched an unprecedented tourist boom. But their dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others.
-
-
Not for reactionaries
- By sunsolid on 02-17-09
By: T. J. English
-
The War on Normal People
- By: Andrew Yang
- Narrated by: Andrew Yang
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The shift toward automation is about to create a tsunami of unemployment. Not in the distant future - now. One recent estimate predicts 13 million American workers will lose their jobs within the next seven years - jobs that won't be replaced. In a future marked by restlessness and chronic unemployment, what will happen to American society? In The War on Normal People, Andrew Yang paints a dire portrait of the American economy. Rapidly advancing technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation software are making millions of Americans' livelihoods irrelevant.
-
-
I Would Vote For Him
- By Tommie Sexton on 07-09-18
By: Andrew Yang
-
Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba
- The Biography of a Cause
- By: Tom Gjelten
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Brilliantly written , amazing performance .
- By RRV on 10-29-17
By: Tom Gjelten
-
Good Economics for Hard Times
- Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems
- By: Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this revolutionary book, renowned MIT economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo take on this challenge, building on cutting-edge research in economics explained with lucidity and grace. Original, provocative, and urgent, Good Economics for Hard Times makes a persuasive case for an intelligent interventionism and a society built on compassion and respect. It is an extraordinary achievement, one that shines a light to help us appreciate and understand our precariously balanced world.
-
-
audio is not The best format for a book like this
- By CB on 12-08-19
By: Abhijit V. Banerjee, and others
-
Creating a World Without Poverty
- How Social Business Can Transform Our Lives
- By: Muhammad Yunus
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While free markets have brought positive change, traditional capitalism cannot solve problems of inequality and poverty because of its view of people as solely profit-driven. In fact, humans have other drives and passions, including spiritual, social, and altruistic.
-
-
Narrator is awful
- By Paul on 01-24-08
By: Muhammad Yunus
-
Post Corona
- From Crisis to Opportunity
- By: Scott Galloway
- Narrated by: Scott Galloway
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The COVID-19 outbreak has turned bedrooms into offices, pitted young against old, and widened the gaps between rich and poor, red and blue, the mask wearers and the mask haters. Some businesses - like home exercise company Peloton, video conference software maker Zoom, and Amazon - woke up to find themselves crushed under an avalanche of consumer demand. Others - like the restaurant, travel, hospitality, and live entertainment industries - scrambled to escape obliteration.
-
-
Rebranding Capitalism?
- By David Shaw on 11-26-20
By: Scott Galloway
-
Genius
- How to Thrive at the Edge of Chaos
- By: Bruce Whitfield
- Narrated by: Bruce Whitfield
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Greatness comes from acting on purpose, and there is a generation of South Africans solving problems for the future. Learn how Pratley beat Armstrong to the moon, how a former Eskom quantity surveyor capitalised on Britain’s obsession with meerkats to create the UK’s most visible price comparison website, how to take a Mediterranean-style food concept to the Mediterranean, and how a device designed to beat diamond smuggling made it from the set of a popular US hospital drama into emergency rooms and pathology labs across the US.
-
-
Proudly South African
- By Anonymous User on 07-14-24
By: Bruce Whitfield
-
The Money Deception - What Banks & Governments Don't Want You to Know
- Money Power, Banking Rules & Secrets Exposed. The Money Education & Makeover Guide.
- By: Thomas Herold
- Narrated by: Ken Strecker
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook unveils more than 20 secret methods used by banks, governments, and corporations to legally steal 90 percent of your income. Brilliantly authored and astoundingly easy to understand, this audiobook is an eye-popping exposure of the most sophisticated fraud in the history of mankind.
-
-
Five Stars
- By Anthony Daniel on 07-04-19
By: Thomas Herold
-
Give Work
- Reversing Poverty One Job at a Time
- By: Leila Janah
- Narrated by: Leila Janah
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When asked if they'd rather receive aid or work, the world's poorest people will always choose work. But the world's richest countries continue to send aid, targeting the symptoms, not the causes of poverty. Western countries have the best intentions, but charity-based aid often does more harm than good, and billions of people continue to suffer. According to Leila Janah, giving dignified, steady, fair-wage work is the most effective way to eradicate poverty.
-
-
Top of my list.
- By Sandra on 04-14-18
By: Leila Janah
-
Trust
- Creating the Foundation for Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries
- By: Tarun Khanna
- Narrated by: James Gillies
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Entrepreneurial ventures often fail in the developing world because of the lack of something taken for granted in the developed world: trust. Over centuries the developed world has built up customs and institutions like enforceable contracts. This is not the case in the developing world. Using vivid examples from Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and elsewhere, scholar and entrepreneur Tarun Khanna shows how entrepreneurs can build on existing customs and practices instead of trying to push against them.
-
-
Very theoretical and not much practical knowledge
- By Al on 01-24-25
By: Tarun Khanna
-
How the Poor Can Save Capitalism
- Rebuilding the Path to the Middle Class
- By: John Hope Bryant
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 4 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook has a simple message for business leaders: your primary goal must be to serve and raise the poor. The poor need to enter the economic system to buy products, put money in banks, and move into the middle class. This is the only approach that can possibly save the American Dream. John Hope Bryant, successful self-made businessman and founder of the nonprofit Operation HOPE, says business and political leaders are ignoring the one force that could truly re-energize the stalled American economy: the poor.
-
-
Simply a MUST read!
- By Kevin E Crittendon on 11-05-16
By: John Hope Bryant
-
The Capitalist Manifesto
- Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World
- By: Johan Norberg
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marx and Engels were right when they observed in the Communist Manifesto that free markets had in a short time created greater prosperity and more technological innovation than all previous generations combined. A century and a half later, all the evidence shows that capitalism has lifted millions and millions from hunger and poverty. Today's story about global capitalism, shared by right-wing and left-wing populists, but also by large sections of the political and economic establishment, does not deny that prosperity has been created, but it says it ended up in far too few hands.
-
-
An unknown perspective
- By Salman Syed on 01-15-24
By: Johan Norberg
What listeners say about Everyday Cuba for Non-Cubans: Beyond the Resort Cliché
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- onlychild
- 02-18-23
Good, except Chapter 6
Mostly insightful and informative on current (with historical context for) life aspects of Cubans as written from a Canadian perspective. The book could completely do without the nearly 1hour-long unsolicited spiel on how Cuban politicians+investors should improve the economy. *Skip Chapter 6* to keep it a relevant book to most readers.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ahmed
- 04-09-21
Great Book
This short book is really nice book about Cuba. It provides exactly what the title says. I like that it goes in details about all aspects of history and life in Cuba while keeping it short and simple.
Highly recommend it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!