Cuba: A Short History (Cambridge History of Latin America)

Book Description

Cuba: A Short History brings together four chapters from Volumes 3, 5, and 7 of The Cambridge History of Latin America to provide for scholars, students and general readers a concise history of this important island nation. Contributors, top scholars in the field, trace the political, economic, and social development of Cuba from the middle of the eighteenth century to the present day. The concluding chapter, updated for this volume, considers the dilemmas and challenges that Castro's Cuba faces in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. Each chapter is accompanied by a bibliographical essay that many readers will find useful.

Customer Reviews:

Only Academic Historians Could Make Cuba this Boring!.......2002-10-11

I used this book in a Cuban history course that I taught last year, and man did the students hate it. This collection of 4 articles from the multi-volume Cambridge History of Latin America is meant to provide a concise overview of Cuban history. But they begin in the 1600s, missing the first several hundred years, and end in the 1970s, missing the last two pivotal decades. The articles themselves are informative enough, but so boring and poorly written as to make the reader weep. This is an awful book.

There is such a thing as a TOO SHORT HISTORY.......1999-10-20

I was surprised to find a so-called history book should skip the first two hundred years of any country. At the beginning of this "history" we are hurtled into the mid-eighteenth century with absolutely no preamble; no background as to what came before. Where is the history of the discovery of the island, the natives who inhabited it, the process by which we arrived at the 18th century? Add to this the fact that each successive event is treated so lightly, with scant detail and such pompous, overblown language, and you can understand why I simply put it down after a few chapters and have not picked it up since. My advise?: If you really want to learn about Cuba, don't bother with this comic book sketch.

The Representation of Slavery in Cuban Fiction

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The Representation of Slavery in Cuban Fiction
Lorna Valerie Williams
Manufacturer: Univ of Missouri Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Latin American | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0826209572

Contestatory Cuban Short Story of the Revolution

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Contestatory Cuban Short Story of the Revolution
Jos B. Alvarez IV
Manufacturer: University Press of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0761823441

Cuba, Between History and Legend/Cuba, Entre la Historia y la Leyenda

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Delightful book!
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Cuba, Between History and Legend/Cuba, Entre la Historia y la Leyenda
Oscar Orbea
Manufacturer: Airleaf Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Product Description

A collection of short stories based on Cuban legends and unusual histories, all told in thoroughly original and creative ways. All stories are narrated in English and Spanish on facing pages. Also includes substantial background information on the actual events on which the stories are based, as well as references for follow-up reading and historical illustrations. Cuba, Between History and Legend/Cuba, Entre la Historia y la Leyenda by Oscar Orbea, PhD Paperback: 259 pages, Publisher: Airleaf Publishing;1st edition (March 31, 2007) Languages: English/Spanish

Customer Reviews:

Delightful book!.......2007-06-29

Cuba, Between History and Legend/Cuba, entre la historia y la leyenda
By Oscar M. Ramírez-Orbea, Ph.D.

This delightful book, by Dr. Oscar M. Ramírez-Orbea, author of Cuba, I Remember You, takes the reader back on another delightful journey to the author's native homeland, Cuba. This book does not go back to the author's life or to the politics of Cuba. Rather this book straddles the history, legend, and lore of that island nation. It is difficult to classify this book. The author explains it this way:

The book you have in your hands is not a history book. It is also not a book about Cuban legends. Its subject matter lies somewhere in that gray in-between. Each story is based unquestionably on fact, at least in part. There is concrete historical evidence for some aspects--and sometimes for most aspects--of each tale. Around
these historical facts, however, the Cuban imagination (as well as this author's own interpretation and rendition of events) has created a pearl of legend by layering over each grain of truth. It is in this world of unavoidable and delightful ambiguity that the characters, events, and settings narrated in this book live and breathe.

This book contains nine stories with a basis of history but layered with legend and myth. The nine stories are "The Mouth of Hell / La boca del Infierno," "Kidnapped y Pirates! / ¡Secuestrado por piratas!!," "Isn't It Romantic? / ¡Ay, pero qué romántico!," "Aimless / Sin brújula," "The Hardest Thing / Lo más duro," "Letter to an Unknown Woman / Carta a una desconocida," "Heaven-sent / Don del Cielo," "The Secret / El secreto," and "The Interrogation / El interrogatorio."

As you can tell this book, like Cuba, I Remember You, is written in both Spanish and English. This makes it possible for both English and Spanish speakers to read this book. It can also be employed to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) or for English-speaking students to learn Spanish. There is a beauty to the Spanish prose that makes reading the Spanish, even if I am not conversant in the language, a romantic adventure.

The first story, "The Mouth of Hell / La boca del Infierno," is about a lady known as Leonarda who was tried for "public scandal." The "public scandal" is that she is being tried, it appears, for witchcraft. The time of this trial? The author informs us: "After all, this was Cuba in 1682. At about this time, up in the English colonies, around Massachusetts, there was a town named Salem. And at their witch trials, they also would have no air conditioner and no ceiling fans." This was also, I might add, a time of great religious upheaval in the wake of the Reformation and societal upheaval and religious wars in Europe were rampant. The colonies did not escape those consequences.

"Kidnapped y Pirates! / ¡Secuestrado por piratas!!" takes place at what is today known as Guantánamo Bay. It depicts the bravery of a bishop caring for his flock during and after a pirate attack on their town.

"Isn't It Romantic? / ¡Ay, pero qué romántico!" relates the tale of unrequited love and the beautiful Lolita Randon felled by smallpox. It is a legend about a mysterious wooden sign at the pauper's grave of Lolita.

"Aimless / Sin brújula" is a backwards chronology of Joseph Diaz Pimienta, who was burned at the stake by the Holy Office of the Inquisition on the 25th of July, 1720, in Seville, Spain. It is written as if he were dictating his final words as he was being tied, then burning, at the stake.

"The Hardest Thing / Lo más duro" relates the origins of the Holy Sepulcher of Camagüey and the Camagüeyan tradition of the Holy Sepulcher procession. It is a touching tale about redemption and forgiveness.

"Letter to an Unknown Woman / Carta a una desconocida" is a letter written by an accused priest during the religious persecutions from the 1820's to the 1840's, although the events sound as if the persecutions happened when the communist Castro government assumed power.

"Heaven-sent / Don del Cielo" is a tale "told" by a vulture and his life and travels. There is a sense of anthropomorphism in the tale.

"The Secret / El secreto" begins "Bishop Morell opened his eyes and realized he had died." This reminds me of my mother admonishing against some sort of activity because I might "wake up dead." But what is the secret? That's for you to find out. I did like the Hebrew phrases uttered in this tale--I guess the inclusion of Hebrew (and in other tales Latin) makes this book a polyglottal codex!

"The Interrogation / El interrogatorio" talks about Cuba's patron saint, the Lady of Charity and her festival, and how Ernest Hemingway, a non-believer, donated his Nobel Prize for Literature to the shrine of the Lady of Charity. The tale relates the interrogation of Juan Moreno, but perhaps with a bit of anachronism? The notes say the interrogation occurred in the 1600's, but the narrative has the officer asking Moreno if he would like some Starbucks coffee. Or is this a way to straddle the ancient with the modern?

Each story concludes with an Epilogue followed by notes. The notes give a historical account of the tale as well as resources to follow up on researching the event, people, and places.

The book also finishes with a section listing further resources in English and Spanish for the reader who wants to know more about Cuban history, legend, people, and literature.

Overall the stories capture the rich imagery and romance of the island nation. They follow the Greek ideal to seek "the good, the true, and the beautiful." The romance of Cuba's names come through. The book also contains many pictures, photos, and paintings relating to the history, geography, lore, and faith of the nation and people of Cuba. The stories tell of the struggles and persecutions of the people, especially the minorities of race or faith.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories and came away with a renewed respect for the people who are one of our southern neighbors.

JOHN HOH, JR.
For BOOKIDEAS.COM

Independent Professional Book Reviewer.......2007-06-13

Cuba, Between History and Legend, is a collection of nine stories based on legendary tales about Cuba ... The author displays an enthusiasm for the history that adds value and depth to these colorful stories ... There is a range of subject matter to sink into here: Catholicism, unrequited love, political protest, and devil worship are a few of the areas the author exposes in the history of the Cuban culture... The torment these men face when struggling with their personal beliefs versus those of the society they live in is movingly illustrated by the author ... in many of the other stories, the author skillfully seduces the reader with complicated characters ... The author's descriptive pen encourages the reader to connect with the characters and to become immersed in the fantasy world he creates. The notes section at the end of the book will guide the reader in seeking additional information about the historical background of the stories. The author has included artwork with each story that helps to pull together fact and fiction. This title is available in both English and Spanish [in the same edition] allowing for a broader audience base. Cuba, Between History and Legend provides insight into the foundation of the Cuban culture by spinning tales that incorporate fiction and fact. Ramírez-Orbea ...displays a passion for the traditions and historical background of his homeland. This book will serve as an introduction to Cuba for many and an opportunity to reminisce for others.

[...]

The Free Flag of Cuba: The Lost Novel of Lucy Holcombe Pickens (Library of Southern Civilization)

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The Free Flag of Cuba: The Lost Novel of Lucy Holcombe Pickens (Library of Southern Civilization)
Lucy Petaway Holcombe Pickens , Georganne B. Burton , and Orville Vernon Burton
Manufacturer: Louisiana State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0807128317

Book Description

Edited, with an Introduction, by Orville Vernon Burton and Georganne B. Burton.

The wife of South Carolina secessionist governor Francis W. Pickens and known as the "Queen of the Confederacy," Lucy Holcombe Pickens (1832-1899) was during her lifetime one of the most famous women in the South. Rumor was that in her youth she published a novel under a pseudonym. Recently discovered as THE FREE FLAG OF CUBA; OR, THE MARTYRDOM OF LOPEZ: A TALE OF THE LIBERATING EXPEDITION OF 1851, her 1854 book is a romanticized account of the filibustering expedition to Cuba by Narciso Lopez. With this new edition, Orville and Georganne Burton resurrect Holcombe's lost work and prove it to be a window on many pressing nineteenth-century issues.

A not-so-subtle plea for U.S. support for Cuban independence from Spain, THE FREE FLAG OF CUBA vindicates Lopez and his men-who were officially regarded as mercenaries-and declares them to be martyred heroes. Holcombe's tale clearly reflects the values southern aristocratic women expected in men, even if preserving those values meant death and defeat--a harbinger of why women like Lucy so ardently supported the Confederacy.

Book Description

Fidel Castro's seizure of power in Cuba, and his one-man rule across nearly half a century, are matters poorly understood outside that country. "No siempre gana la muerte", the Spanish edition of David Landau's "Death Is Not Always the Winner", recreates a lost piece of history. Carefully based on period detail, Landau's narrative follows the story of Rodrigo, a Cuban attorney who opposes Batista's tyranny and then takes up arms against Castro's regime.

While the novel has been praised in its original English, this Spanish-language edition has won special acclaim from Hispanic readers, who have a firsthand knowledge of the subject.

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A Short History of Espionage From the Trojan Horse to Cuba
Colonel Allison Ind
Manufacturer: David Mckay Co., Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J0IKTE

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A very humorous and vivid tale

Latin Lover

Super

Incredibly real account of life in Cuba in the mid 90s

A Sensual Story of Survival in post-revolutionary Cuba

Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada
Zoe Valdes
Manufacturer: Arcade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1559703628

Customer Reviews:

A very humorous and vivid tale.......2004-01-30

I read this book in Spanish. For all of those that can read it in this language I truly recommend it. It is very hard to interpret the Cuban lingo and it looses its flavor when it is translated.

Overall this a great short novel that depicts the cruel and harsh reality that the Cuban people have gone and continue to go through.

Latin Lover.......2002-03-18

Zoe Valdes was born in Cuba in 1959 and fled to France in 1995. Overnight, she has vaulted to the first rank of contemporary Latin American novelists. "Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada" (Arcade Publishing: 1997) was her first novel published in English. "I Gave You All I Had" (Arcade Publishing: 1999), which existed in manuscript as early as 1995, and "My Father's Foot" (Planeta: 2002) have recently added to her reputation.

Told in the first person, "Yocandra" is a brief, rich, wrenching, serio-comic, episodic, film-influenced, belle-lettristic piece of performance art, in which the narrator's voice is, happily, always present.

Thrust out of a magic-realist Purgatory in a cycle of petition and rejection, Yocandra is confined to Castro's Cuba. A person's name may be important, but apparently not in Cuba. Yocandra exchanges one name, the name of her country, for the name of a muse in a failed effort to buy love. All of the other major characters in the book lack proper names. Her two lovers bear nicknames -- the Traitor and the Nihilist -- which reflect their relationship to the Cuban state. Like characters in a Bergman film, they meet and play a game of chess together while Yocandra suffers a spiritual crisis. Her father, a Communist Party hack, destroys a treasure trove of homoerotic art because it offends his orthodox machismo views. Her girlfriend, the Worm, escapes to Spain, where her life with a belching fat man becomes as strained as that of a character in an Almodovar film. Yocandra's lost love, the Lynx, stumbles upon a nighttime sailing expedition to Miami, willingly joins in, and alone survives a storm when he lashes himself to stray timber and floats free.

This is a Cuba in which Communist ideology and bureaucracy have bred poverty, corruption, and disconnects in the extreme. In the background of Yocandra's story, neighborhood vigilantes search excrement-strewn dumpsters for signs of political disloyalty, bicyclists who pedal to forget are branded loose women, the data entry clerk at Yocandra's literary journal creates her database anew each day when the power cuts out before she saves her work, everyone barters everything of value for what passes for food, and the sea pounds relentlessly and the sun continues hypnotically to shine.

Sex plays a prominent part in "Yocandra." (Valdes has said that, growing up fatherless and without money in Cuba, she had sex instead of toys.) Devotees of erotic fiction told from a woman's perspective may appreciate the clinical description of Yocandra's lovemaking with the Nihilist, whose perfect body includes a perfectly used thirteen-inch tool. But if the scene is erotic, it is not because there is any affection, much less love, passing between the two. Sex without love -- like literature without words, pride without accomplishment, work without labor, birth without creation -- is a staple of Yocandra's daily life in Cuba.

This is a provocative book, written with style by an author to contend with.

Super.......2000-04-20

Vrlo interesantna knjiga koju bih preporucila najpre zenskoj publici. Nabijena erotikom, puna emocija ljubavi i besa. Upoznajte kako se zivi na Kubi.

Incredibly real account of life in Cuba in the mid 90s.......1999-03-24

Zoe Valdes has been able to articulate, in a literary fasion, what I have sought to do for the last five years since I spent a year a half in Cuba and left unable to express what I had seen, heard and experienced. She highlights the contradictions brilliantly, illustrates how the regime has suppressed individuality and personal initiative and has produced an island of crazy old fools, (like her mother) men who can only repeat the same paranoid line over and over, (like the great leader) hyper-sexualized youth, (what else is there to do? How else to relax?) prostitutes, prisoners, young people for whom the threat of sharks and drowning is better than staying on the island, the wretching pain of losing all your friends to exile, the Hernia (what a great metaphor!). There is so much in this little book -- I would like to re-read it, and recommend it to anyone who wants to know what life is like on the island in this decade. This book, reflecting life in Cuba, is very, very sad and somewhat hopeless yet it must be read.

A Sensual Story of Survival in post-revolutionary Cuba.......1997-12-19

Her mother, then nine months pregnant, trekked to Havana for the big rally on May 1, 1959 and when she went into labour in the middle of Fidel Castro¹s speech and had to be carried away, Che Guevara rushed to her side and draped a Cuban flag over her belly. Her proud father named her Patria ³the fatherland², but by the time Patria became an adult living in a country where food was something barely more than a dream, she chucked her patriotic name and officially changed it to Yocandra, a character in her fat, old boyfriend¹s novel. Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada is a novel of personal survival in post revolutionary Cuba. It¹s power comes from its snapshot images of Cuba ravished by hurricanes and famine--the latter being caused by political indecisiveness, disastrous economic planning and the US boycott. The novel takes no sides, politically speaking. Instead it exposes the restlessness of the disgruntled youth born after the revolution and the nostalgia of their idealistic parents. The author, Zoe Valdes, contrasts the troubled youth trapped in a nightmarish reality with the stoic, idealism of those who supported Castro and longed for the revolution. Caught in a time warp, they struggle to achieve a sense of dignity lost in dreams which never materialise in Castro¹s Cuba. Here survival boils down to the two most basic needs: food and sex. Yocandra definitely leaves an impact

Notes on the status and behavior of the Swainson's Warbler in Cuba.(Short Communications): An article from: Wilson Bulletin

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Notes on the status and behavior of the Swainson's Warbler in Cuba.(Short Communications): An article from: Wilson Bulletin
Arturo Kirkconnell , Orlando H. Garrido , and George E. Wallace
Manufacturer: Wilson Ornithological Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Wilson Bulletin, published by Wilson Ornithological Society on March 1, 1996. The length of the article is 1880 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Cuban records show that the Swainson's Warbler were often found in the lowlands, montane regions and swampy areas. Habitat preference ranged from semideciduous forest with high shrubs to dry and shady areas near streams or waterholes. The birds also displayed inter-winter site fidelity and were usually grounded or 1-2 meters above ground. Banding and bird-watching indicate the Swainson's Warbler to be a common winter resident in Cuba.

Citation Details
Title: Notes on the status and behavior of the Swainson's Warbler in Cuba.(Short Communications)
Author: Arturo Kirkconnell
Publication: Wilson Bulletin (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 1996
Publisher: Wilson Ornithological Society
Volume: v108 Issue: n1 Page: p175(4)

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Law and Religion in Marxist Cuba: A Human Rights Inquiry

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Law and Religion in Marxist Cuba: A Human Rights Inquiry
Margaret, I. Short
Manufacturer: Transaction Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom, Volume I
Clayborne Carson , Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner , and Gary B. Nash
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom, Volume I to 1877 w/CD

Manufacturer: Pearson; Longman
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Binding: Paperback

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African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom uses a unique biographical approach to present the history of African Americans as active and thoughtful agents in the construction of their lives and communities. The text places African American lives and stories at the center of the narrative and as the basis of historical analysis. Each chapter opens with a vignette focusing on an individual involved in a dramatic moment or event. Personal stories are told throughout the narrative, as the lives and experiences of individuals provide the lens through which the story of African American history is viewed.

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