Cuba for Beginners

Writers & Readers Documentary Comic Book #1

by Rius

Cartoon history of Cuba

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Humor, Comics, Politics, Travel

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Rius was the pseudonym of Eduardo del Río García, the internationally acclaimed Mexican caricaturist and editorial cartoonist whose innovative work established a new field in comic strips: the political and documentary cartoon-book.

Reviews

[Ricardo]

I got kicked out of high school for a week for distributing photocopies of the Spanish version of this book. It is complete socialist propaganda but it IS FUNNY. You can't censor funny.

[joana]

não acredito que mesmo sendo da américa do sul o rius fez melhor propaganda marxista, leninista e maoísta; mesmo assim está perto do mao for begginers a nível de contextualização história;
eu <3 banda desenhada de propaganda de esquerda

[José M.]

Grijalbo
Marzo de 2006

Es un pequeño libro sobre la historia de cuba, a vuelo de pájaro, su independencia de España y cómo a través del imperialismo yanqui con la enmienda Plat, Cuba pasa a ser prácticamente una colonia de EUA, donde todas las funciones políticas, económicas y sociales eran dirigidas por los yanquis y sus aliados, nos habla de la revuelta de Fidel Castro y se comprende claramente la situación de bloqueo actual de la isla, sus problemas, sus errores, pero sobre todo sus ideas. Plantea que si de haberse llevado la revolución cubana por otro camino menos dictatorial hubiese sido la solución a los problemas de la actual América Latina. Es una obra ligera y fácil de digerir, una síntesis muy acorde al titulo de la misma. BUEN libro. BCE

[Rosbel]

Un libro excelente para adentrarse en la historia de Cuba de principios de siglo. Con humor y sencillez, podrás entender los conflictos y situaciones políticas que te abren los ojos. Excelente recomendación, gracias a mi papá.

[Amanda]

Excellent book for a simple and comprehensive view of Cuba and the revolution. Rius would eventually change his mind about the revolution later on so all you white Cubans living in Miami and other fascists would love that!

[Keila Bernal]

Extremely biased and partisan. This book is pure communist propaganda. Highlighting over and over again how good is the revolution and how bad are Americans. Informative? I wouldn’t be a hundred percent sure since it doesn’t tell the other part of the story or what followed for the Cubans once communism was established. As a Cuban I can tell you Many years of misery, scarcity, and division among us, and the worst, is that all those outcomes are still present nowadays and without hope for my people to see their freedom.

[Dana Robinson]

An interesting account of the Cuba published just over a decade after the revolution really took hold. It's clearly a bit dated and doesn't include any information after 1973, so it misses the effects of the end of the cold war. It's also wildly uncritical of the revolutionary government. While it's great that it does a solid job of pointing out the corruption and problems of American imperialist ambitions, it paints Castro's Cuba as a paradise that it most certainly is/was not.

[V]

It was ok, slightly hard to follow storyline.

[Francisco Garza]

La historia de Cuba en resumidas cuentas, con el clásico humor del buen Rius.

[Bere]

Divertido y educativo!!

[Maria Catarina]

Worth reading

[R S]

Great book to introduce cuban history to beginners

[Frank T.]

Propaganda, yes, but it tells the truth a whole lot more than it lies.

[JNRCobos]

Bueno

[Carrie]

Written in 1970 by a Mexican illustrator/author, this presents an incredibly interesting perspective of modern Cuban history. Some of it is overly idealized, but I greatly appreciate the honesty the author approaches in confronting the United States role in decades, long corruption in Cuban government. Coming from the Cuban diaspora, this definitely gave me a different perspective and filled in a lot of gaps.

[Caolina]

Cuba Para Principantes is a graphic novel book written by the well-known political cartoonist, Rius. The graphic novel describes the history of Cuba from the day it was conquered by Spain up to when the nation's system of government dramatically converted to communism. With the story told in a brief way through cartoons and animated pictures, along with humor, this book is great for people wanting to know the basic history of Cube.

[Gabriel]

Very good information for the beginning student of Cuban history. The font makes it difficult to read at times. I would recommend for high juniors and beyond. (Published before 1980)

[Marc Lichtman]

While this was both the first and best of the "Beginners" books, you can't really explain complex ideas in a cartoon book.

Try instead books like Our History is Still Being Written: The Story of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution, The First and Second Declarations of Havana, Making History: Interviews with Four Generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces, Women in Cuba: The Making of a Revolution within the Revolution, Cuba and Angola: Fighting for Africa’s Freedom and Our Own.

[M.M.]

Easy and interesting graphic novel of the history of Cuba and it's revolution. Probably should be required reading for even the most slightly politically curious Americans as we live in an environment saturated with imperialist propaganda. Not to say that this author does not have their own agenda to get across (to be clear their opinion of the causes and justness of the revolution I mostly agree with) but most rational counter arguments made in good faith ought to be given some creedence, no?

[Barry Bell]

Great intro to the history of Cuba and the political turmoil surrounding their choice to form a socialist economy. Biased- yes: RUIS makes great political commentary through his drawings, but you learn a lot in a short amount of time and have a good timeline for the happenings of Cuba's growth when you are finished.

[Nissi]

Buena y divertida manera para comprender a grandes rasgos la historia cubana. Me hizo pasar un buen rato, además que mi gusto por el libro crece porque me encanta la historia cubana. Buen detalle el comparar en ciertos momentos la revolución mexicana. Tenemos un gran ejemplo que debe de ser prohibido ignorar u olvidar.

[Tiffani]

Humorous and informative.

[Ruby]

precise

[Jordana Mari Jaco]

I have the English Version given by my friend. It is a funny and easy way to understand the history of Cuba and it's struggle against United States.

[Brent]

I love Beginners books.

[Levi]

Informative and concise. Above all, very funny.

[Juan]

Interesante si se lee "Lástima de Cuba"

[Alma]

The history of Cuba: from the start of civilization to the end of the Cuban revolution, the autor brings communism as the best possible political government.

[Joe]

A good intro the cuban history.