The Book of Havana

The Book of Havana PDF Author: Daniel Chavarria
Publisher: Comma Press
ISBN: 1912697041
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 133

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Book Description
When a history teacher decides to throw out an old, threadbare Cuban flag, he doesn’t plan for the air of suspicion that quickly descends on him… A woman’s attempt to register ownership of her family home draws her into a bureaucratic labyrinth that requires a grasp of higher mathematics to fully comprehend… On the day of their graduation, a group of students spend the night drinking around the ‘Fountain of Youth’, ironically celebrating the bright future that doesn’t await them… The stories gathered in this anthology reflect the many complex challenges Havana’s citizens have had to endure as a result of their country’s political isolation – from the hardships of the ‘Special Period’, to the pitfalls of Cuba’s schizophrenic currency system, to the indignities of becoming a cheap tourist destination for well-heeled Westerners. Moving through various moments in its recent history, as well as through different neighbourhoods – from the prefab, Soviet-era maze of Alamar, to the bars and nightclubs of the Malecón and Vedado – these stories also demonstrate the defiance of Havana: surviving decades of economic disappointment with a flair for the comic, the surreal and the fantastical that remains as fresh as the first dreams of revolution. Translated from the Spanish by Orsola Casagrande and Séamas Carraher.

The Book of Havana

The Book of Havana PDF Author: Daniel Chavarria
Publisher: Comma Press
ISBN: 1912697041
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 133

Get Book Here

Book Description
When a history teacher decides to throw out an old, threadbare Cuban flag, he doesn’t plan for the air of suspicion that quickly descends on him… A woman’s attempt to register ownership of her family home draws her into a bureaucratic labyrinth that requires a grasp of higher mathematics to fully comprehend… On the day of their graduation, a group of students spend the night drinking around the ‘Fountain of Youth’, ironically celebrating the bright future that doesn’t await them… The stories gathered in this anthology reflect the many complex challenges Havana’s citizens have had to endure as a result of their country’s political isolation – from the hardships of the ‘Special Period’, to the pitfalls of Cuba’s schizophrenic currency system, to the indignities of becoming a cheap tourist destination for well-heeled Westerners. Moving through various moments in its recent history, as well as through different neighbourhoods – from the prefab, Soviet-era maze of Alamar, to the bars and nightclubs of the Malecón and Vedado – these stories also demonstrate the defiance of Havana: surviving decades of economic disappointment with a flair for the comic, the surreal and the fantastical that remains as fresh as the first dreams of revolution. Translated from the Spanish by Orsola Casagrande and Séamas Carraher.

Havana Red

Havana Red PDF Author: Leonardo Padura
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
ISBN: 1904738095
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
A young transvestite found strangled in a Havana park. The stifling death of a beloved Cuba.

Adios, Havana

Adios, Havana PDF Author: Andrew J. Rodriguez
Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc.
ISBN: 1598000489
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Havana . . . lilting rumbas, caf con leche, sultry sea breezes. Sparkling white beaches by day, scintillating nightclubs after dark. This sophisticated, international capital was the crown jewel of an island paradise-until the idealism that fed the Cuban Revolution yielded a nightmare of soul-crushing dictatorship. Adios, Havana is a true account of romance and peril, adventure and patriotism. Fueled by love-love of family, of country, and of each other-a young couple must face the most wrenching of choices: remain in the country they cherish, lose the wealth and position their families strove for generations to attain, and watch their children grow up impoverished under a terrifying regime; or risk escaping with no money or possessions and leave behind all they have ever known to begin a new life in a strange land. A legacy to future generations, this memoir is intended to remind readers of the fragility of freedom . . . to describe the disintegration of a prosperous civilized society and offer counsel on how to prevent a similar catastrophe from happening in America . . . and to show how and why penniless refugees flourish in the land of the free-why anyone who resists oppression would be driven to tell his beloved homeland, Adios.

Havana Fever

Havana Fever PDF Author: Leonardo Padura
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
ISBN: 1904738893
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Scorching novel from a star of Cuban fiction. The return of Mario Conde.

Last Dance in Havana

Last Dance in Havana PDF Author: Eugene Robinson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439138095
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
In power for forty-four years and counting, Fidel Castro has done everything possible to define Cuba to the world and to itself -- yet not even he has been able to control the thoughts and dreams of his people. Those thoughts and dreams are the basis for what may become a post-Castro Cuba. To more fully understand the future of America's near neighbor, veteran reporter Eugene Robinson knew exactly where to look -- or rather, to listen. In this provocative work, Robinson takes us on a sweaty, pulsating, and lyrical tour of a country on the verge of revolution, using its musicians as a window into its present and future. Music is the mother's milk of Cuban culture. Cubans express their fondest hopes, their frustrations, even their political dissent, through music. Most Americans think only of salsa and the Buena Vista Social Club when they think of the music of Cuba, yet those styles are but a piece of a broad musical spectrum. Just as the West learned more about China after the Cultural Revolution by watching From Mao to Mozart, so will readers discover the real Cuba -- the living, breathing, dying, yet striving Cuba. Cuban music is both wildly exuberant and achingly melancholy. A thick stew of African and European elements, it is astoundingly rich and influential to have come from such a tiny island. From rap stars who defy the government in their lyrics to violinists and pianists who attend the world's last Soviet-style conservatory to international pop stars who could make millions abroad yet choose to stay and work for peanuts, Robinson introduces us to unforgettable characters who happily bring him into their homes and backstage discussions. Despite Castro's attempts to shut down nightclubs, obstruct artists, and subsidize only what he wants, the musicians and dancers of Cuba cannot stop, much less behave. Cubans move through their complicated lives the way they move on the dance floor, dashing and darting and spinning on a dime, seducing joy and fulfillment and next week's supply of food out of a broken system. Then at night they take to the real dance floors and invent fantastic new steps. Last Dance in Havana is heartwrenching, yet ultimately as joyous and hopeful as a rocking club late on a Saturday night.

Inside Havana

Inside Havana PDF Author:
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 0811833437
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
Having enjoyed four years of unprecedented access to the private interiors of Cuba's capital, Moore has created an unrivaled portrait of both its legendary historic architecture and the city's inner life. 80 color photos.

Havana

Havana PDF Author: Joseph L. Scarpaci
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 9780807853696
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
Newly revised and redesigned, this book assesses nearly 500 years of urban development and planning in Havana, paying particular attention to the city's rich blend of Spanish-Cuban-Latin American-North American architecture and design.

Cuba

Cuba PDF Author:
Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc.
ISBN: 1580932754
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
The images contained in this book do more than mirror reality in Cuba. They offer an orientation to its complexities. They present glimpses that are factual, realistic, honest, mixed with a breath of lyricism and quotidian simplicity, capturing our attention and allowing us to see the unseen. They get us in touch with the depth of our own inwardness and expand our sympathies not only for the Cuban people but also for humanity. —Nilo Cruz Cuba is a rhythmic, colorful, sophisticated, and intimate view into this isolated island that has long existed in a state of paralysis, immobile in time. Photographer Jeffrey Milstein captures and delves deep into the beauty, soul, and the extremes of Cuba’s urban life, the character of its people, the atmosphere of the region, and the country’s visual attractions and landscape. The artful presentation and more than one hundred stunning photographs portray a story far more revealing and intimate than words can tell, rare views of Cubans at work and play will dispel any notion you might have that Cuba is a somber and depressing place, and will draw you into the history and the people that make Cuba our most fascinating neighbor.

The Occupation of Havana

The Occupation of Havana PDF Author: Elena A. Schneider
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 146964536X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
In 1762, British forces mobilized more than 230 ships and 26,000 soldiers, sailors, and enslaved Africans to attack Havana, one of the wealthiest and most populous ports in the Americas. They met fierce resistance. Spanish soldiers and local militias in Cuba, along with enslaved Africans who were promised freedom, held off the enemy for six suspenseful weeks. In the end, the British prevailed, but more lives were lost in the invasion and subsequent eleven-month British occupation of Havana than during the entire Seven Years' War in North America. The Occupation of Havana offers a nuanced and poignantly human account of the British capture and Spanish recovery of this coveted Caribbean city. The book explores both the interconnected histories of the British and Spanish empires and the crucial role played by free people of color and the enslaved in the creation and defense of Havana. Tragically, these men and women would watch their promise of freedom and greater rights vanish in the face of massive slave importation and increased sugar production upon Cuba's return to Spanish rule. By linking imperial negotiations with events in Cuba and their consequences, Elena Schneider sheds new light on the relationship between slavery and empire at the dawn of the Age of Revolutions.

The Mafia in Havana

The Mafia in Havana PDF Author: Enrique Cirules
Publisher: Ocean Press (AU)
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Dramatic account of the pre-revolution era in Cuba, describing the culture of casinos, cabarets and drugs on an island frequented by Hollywood celebrities and infamous Mafia bosses. Mafia in Cuba is a tale of corruption and organised crime, where politicians are sold to the highest bidder and where real power lies with the Mafia and other US interests. Enrique Cirules uses both Cuban and US sources to document the intertwined relationships between Washington, the Mafia and the pre-revolution governments in Cuba.