Book Description

"Engaged but objective, this comprehensive study offers a rich mine of data to social scientists and health experts alike. . . . [It] will inform and surprise even the Cuba 'experts' inside Cuba . . . and may also help explain why the revolution has been able to endure."--Saul Landau, Institute for Policy Studies, Washington D.C. "Superbly researched. . . . Feinsilver's book is for anyone interested in understanding why Castro weathered the global anti-communist storm between 1989 and 1991 and in learning about how social policies can be effective in the Third World."--Susan Eckstein, Boston University "Feinsilver's book admirably reconstructs the capacity of Cuba's public health system to meet the health needs of its people. Her analysis of the evolution of Cuban government policy in the health field should be of particular interest to public health professionals in various countries. I have learned much from this book and am certain that others will too."--Jorge Dominguez, Center for International Affairs, Harvard University "Whatever the political views of the readers, Julie Feinsilver's scholarly analysis of the Cuban health care system in the Castro period, within the framework of specifically Cuban health policy, will be exciting and rewarding reading. The view of the social policy process whereby a small, poor country managed to develop a complex health services infrastructure that zealously provided comprehensive medical care for the entire population and succeeded in daring adventures in the provision of medical care in a half dozen foreign countries as well, is a fascinating story. And most fascinating of all is the evidence that the care given was good!"--George A. Silver, Yale University