Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba Pdf Summary
A unique history of Cuba, captured in the life and times of the famous rum dynasty
The Bacardis of Cuba, builders of a rum distillery and a worldwide brand, came of age with their nation and helped define what it meant to be Cuban. Across five generations, the Bacardi family has held fast to its Cuban identity, even in exile from the country for whose freedom they once fought. Now National Public Radio correspondent Tom Gjelten tells the dramatic story of one family, its business, and its nation, a 150-year tale with the sweep and power of an epic.
The Bacardi clan–patriots and bon vivants, entrepreneurs and intellectuals–provided an example of business and civic leadership in its homeland for nearly a century. From the fight for Cuban independence from Spain in the 1860s to the rise of Fidel Castro and beyond, there is no chapter in Cuban history in which the Bacardis have not played a role. In chronicling the saga of this remarkable family and the company that bears its name, Tom Gjelten describes the intersection of business and power, family and politics, community and exile.
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Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba Review
4.0 out of 5 stars Viva Bacardi
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2016
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I took a fantastic cultural exchange trip to Cuba in November 2015. In preparation for the trip I read a variety of books about Cuba: biographies, memoirs, novels and histories. “Barardi,” by Tom Gjelten of NPR fame, was probably the single best introduction to the island’s history and contemporary affairs. The author’s central point is that “the history of Cuba can be narrated around tales of rum; it has been a symbol of Cuban life from the days of sugar and slaves through the Castro era.” And moreover, “the survival and reorganization of the Bacardi rum company following its displacement from Cuba would amount to one of the more notable tales in business history.” These theses are perhaps a bit oversold, but they make a highly readable narrative.
Cuba is (or has been) synonymous with sugar. Molasses is a byproduct of sugar production and for many years it was dumped into Cuban rivers or shipped off to New England where it was turned into rum. The Bacardis, originally from Spain, were nothing if not proud Cubans – and they were, almost to a man, great men, at least according to the author. He lionizes the family, especially founding father Emilio Facundo Bacardi. After several failed commercial endeavors and nearly destitute, the patriarch experimented with and innovated a new, light version of the local rum product from his shop in Santiago de Cuba, the main port city of eastern Cuba. Slowly, literally over decades, beginning in 1862, he and his family established a recognizable brand and built a stable business operation.
The Bacardi name – and their unusual logo, the bat – became synonymous with high quality Cuban rum. Meanwhile, the family played an outsized role in the political events that shaped Cuba in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and propelled the island’s lucrative rum industry into one of the islands most important export commodities.
To begin with, the Bacardis were, from the start and basically until the end, liberal Cuban nationalists, according to Gjelten. I found it remarkable how racially and socially diverse the Cuban revolution of 1898 really was (and that of 1868, as well). The Cubans claimed and fought for a genuinely open and free society over half-a-century before the United States adopted similar language. And the Bacardis of Santiago were consistently socially forward-leaning in these struggles, siding strongly with Cuban national heroes such as Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and Jose Marti.
The four-year American occupation after the war with Spain was a watershed period in Cuban history – and the expansion of the rum trade. The Teller and Platt Amendments may be forgotten by American students, but are well remembered by Cubans today, as I can attest from my recent travels there. The former claimed that the US had no territorial claim to Cuba, whereas the latter demanded the constitutional right to interfere in an independent Cuba to preserve stability.
The US occupation also helped popularize rum as a mix drink. The whiskey-drinking Americans found that a generous splash of Cuban rum mixed well with the Coca-Cola at the officers club, and the “Cuba Libre” was born. The mojito and daiquiri soon followed. And then U.S. Prohibition in the 1920s produced an economic boon for Cuba, for both tourism and uninhibited access to alcohol (and flesh).
Pepin Bosch, a latter Bacardi senior executive and a hero of Gjelten’s narrative, was appointed minister of finance in Carlos Prio’s government in 1950. He is described as a popular hero, loved by all. His government tenure was only 14 months, but according to the author he left the government, previously in debt, with a $14M surplus.
The conquest by Castro in 1958 is described by the author as unexpectedly sudden; a coup that succeeded mainly by “sheer audacity, irresistible energy, and political cunning.” Even more unexpected was how long lasting the revolution turned out to be. The extent to which the Cuban bourgeoisie financed Castro’s rise to power is surprising and is largely buried today under a “mutually convenient conspiracy of silence,” according to Gjelten. The Revolution is described as an ill-advised catastrophe that brought economic ruin to the island. “The Bacardi family’s Hatuey brewery in Manacas was put under the control of a pro-Castro militant whose previous job had been as a handyman at a nearby hotel.” Yet, the liberal Bacardis were smart in their contest with the new Maximum Leader. The valuable Bacardi trademarks had been spirited out of the country before the island operations were nationalized. The communists of Castro’s government evidently concentrated on the means of production, never having considered the brand value of the Bacardi name, a short-sighted failure that would end up costing the Revolution billions over the next half-century.
It is difficult to overstate how badly the collapse of the Soviet Union and global communism hurt Cuba. The Cuban economy under Castro had never been particularly strong. For instance, according to Gjelten, “By 1970, with the labor force fully employed, [Cuba] was still producing less than in had in 1958, when 31 percent of Cuban workers were jobless.” Che Guevara once commented to Gamal Nasser, “I measure the depth of the social transformation by the number of people who are affected by it and feel they have no place in the new society.” In that case, the Cuban Revolution was enormously successful. Roughly 6% of the entire population fled the island by 1970. The economy was effectively propped up by the Soviet Union. Many Cubans I met with described the 1980s as the “salad days” of the Castro Revolution. But all that changed virtually overnight. “In 1989 Cuba received about six billion dollars in aid and subsidies from socialist allies; in 1992 it received zero.” The countries total economic output shrank by at least 40% over just a handful of years in the early 1990s. Meanwhile, the Bacardi family, exiled mainly to Miami, led the charge to turn the screws even tighter on the Castro regime. It was a new and aggressive (and the author suggests myopic) approach to influencing change. “In Cuba,” Gjelten writes, “Bosch’s activism had been forward-looking and idealistic, but in exile he was more rancorous, his sense of civic duty now channeled into an angry determination to bring Castro down, by any means necessary.”
As the Cuban economy imploded, the Bacardi spirits empire boomed. A string of acquisitions (Martini & Rossi vermouth in 1992, Dewar’s whiskey and Bombay Sapphire gin in 1998, Cazadores tequila in 2002, and Grey Goose vodka in 2004) turned the old Cuban family rum business into a diversified corporate juggernaut. Therefore, the stories of Bacardi and the Revolution, in the end, could not be more different.
5.0 out of 5 stars Bacardi and The Long Fight For Cuba:The Biography of a Cause,Great book despite it’s flaws
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2011
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I was not born on the Island as My parents(Habanero, Pinareño and Guarijito de una Playa en Santa Clara thank You) were. Nor would I visit the Island until it is Democratic in every aspect once again and not piecemeal so-called democracy, my family was not wealthy and was Apolitical and fled for Political not Monetary Reasons nor they come to Exploit this great country as later Arrivals have sadly to return several times to the island “sin Verguenza” ninguna,Also I do not drink at all nor smoke, yet my politics are Self-Described and proudly RightWing AntiCastro and AntiBatista Yet Pro-Prio/Pro-Autentico(without the Grau Socialistic Elements and land redistribution) Variety. This book cannot be criticized for not trying to paint a fair and actually surprisingly balanced and refreshing look at a Family from Oriente(be suspicious, history shows Orientales always messing up a good thing see batista and Fidel)who according to the Author who works off all places when he wrote this for NPR(hardly a Rightwing endeavor nor a bone to grind)were a Progressive family, Therein lies one of it’s Flaws, the word “Progressive” is seen throughout the book as though it is a Godsend savior. The family does seem to have a rich history and its roots fighting for democracy stretch back to the Spanish(Its the Cuban American War not Spanish American, Cubans have been neglected in that regard a lot.)to Batista and Sadly Pro-Fidel later to be Anti-Fidel,It is a worthy history lesson when People who seem to be great orators and have that “hope” ingrained in too many only to be duped later.I do not like the fact the one of the early Founders had Anti-Church Leanings since To Him Catholicism was in duplicity with The Spaniards,and he had Masonic Leanings(again AntiChurch) and the author seems to delight that fact about the founders being of the enlightenment,Victor Hugo,Etcera and not being of the Church,(which To me despite the Modern Church In Cuba which is pandering to the Regime,I am still a Hardline Catholic.)Also,the Author seems to use the “Colossus” quote from Marti and twist it in way to hint at some sort of evil American So-called Imperialism,there is also the Annoying Cuban Elite word(as opposed to an American Elite Mainly Liberal from The Western and Eastern Seaboards Perhaps?)as if being Rich or inheritance should be looked down upon?Fidel’s Father was Wealthy as pointed out in the book as was Che TheCoward.Despite these flaws and depending on sources as Dubious As Don Bohning(The Herald or the Tass), Marifeli Perez-Stable(apologist for the Regime,rumored to be a Spy)Cubans who are under the employment of the state and are on the island as well the travel to the island for “research”.(annoying typical Romanticism)Non-Cubans Such Louis A Perez Jr,(Cuba Between Revolution and Reform) and of course an Anglo such as Tom Gjelten with that Liberal mindset of Guilt Should not Deter one from reading this book, and reap the lessons of history and One’s Cuban Identity.
About Tom Gjelten Author Of Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba pdf Book
TOM GJELTEN Author Of Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba pdf Book is a veteran correspondent for NPR News, currently covering issues of religion, faith, and belief. His beat encompasses such areas as the changing religious landscape in America, the formation of personal identity, the role of religion in politics, and social and cultural conflict arising from religious differences. His reporting draws on his many years covering national and international news from posts in Washington and around the world.
In 1986, Gjelten became one of NPR’s pioneer foreign correspondents, posted first in Latin America and then in Central Europe. In the years that followed, he covered the wars in Central America, social and political strife in South America, the first Gulf War, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and the transitions to democracy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
After returning from his overseas assignments, Gjelten covered U.S. diplomacy and military affairs, first from the State Department and then from the Pentagon. He was reporting live from the Pentagon at the moment it was hit on September 11, 2001, and he was NPR’s lead Pentagon reporter during the early war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq. He has also reported extensively from Cuba in recent years.
Gjelten’s latest book is A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story, published in 2015 (Simon & Schuster). The book recounts the impact on America of the 1965 Immigration Act, which officially opened the country’s doors to immigrants of color.
His reporting from Sarajevo from 1992 to 1994 was the basis for his first book Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper Under Siege (HarperCollins), praised by the New York Times as “a chilling portrayal of a city’s slow murder.” He is also the author of Professionalism in War Reporting: A Correspondent’s View (Carnegie Corporation) and a contributor to Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know (W. W. Norton). His 2008 book, Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause (Viking), is a unique history of modern Cuba, told through the life and times of the Bacardi rum family. The New York Times selected it as a “Notable Nonfiction Book,” and the Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and San Francisco Chronicle all listed it among their “Best Books of 2008.”
Since joining NPR in 1982 as labor and education reporter, Gjelten has won numerous awards for his work, including two Overseas Press Club Awards, a George Polk Award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a regular panelist on the PBS program “Washington Week,” and a member of the editorial board at World Affairs Journal. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, he began his professional career as a public school teacher and freelance writer.
Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba pdf, Paperback, Hardcover Book Information
- Publisher : Viking Adult; First Edition, First Printing (September 4, 2008)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 480 pages
- ISBN-10 : 067001978X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0670019786
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Item Weight : 1.59 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.36 x 1.41 x 9.58 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #273 in History of Cuba (Books)
- #1,543 in Company Business Profiles (Books)
- Customer Reviews: 4.6 out of 5 stars 267 ratings
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