Alfredo José Estrada's intimate ties to Havana form the basis for this "autobiography," written as though from the city's own heart. Covering the island's five hundred year history, Estrada portrays the adventurers and dreamers who left their mark on Havana, including José Martí, martyr for Cuban independence; and Ernest Hemingway, the most American of writers who became an unabashed Habanero. Deeply personal and affecting, Havana is the accessible and complete story of the city for the history buff and armchair traveler alike.
In this exquisite volume, author Maria Luisa Lobo Montalvo presents the architecture and history of Havana - part of which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site - in an accessible and engaging text and specially commissioned color photographs."--BOOK JACKET.
This is the first comprehensive history of the culturally diverse city, and the first to be co-authored by a Cuban and an American. Beginning with the founding of Havana in 1519, Cluster and Hernández explore the making of the city and its people through revolutions, art, economic development and the interplay of diverse societies. The authors bring together conflicting images of a city that melds cultures and influences to create an identity that is distinctly Cuban.
A city of tropical heat, sweat, ramshackle beauty, and its very own cadence--a city that always surprises--Havana is brought to pulsing life by New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky. Award-winning author Mark Kurlansky presents an insider's view of Havana: the elegant, tattered city he has come to know over more than thirty years. Part cultural history, part travelogue, with recipes, historic engravings, photographs, and Kurlansky's own pen-and-ink drawings throughout, Havana celebrates the city's singular music, literature, baseball, and food; its five centuries of outstanding, neglected architecture; and its extraordinary blend of cultures. Like all great cities, Havana has a rich history that informs the vibrant place it is today--from the native Taino to Columbus's landing, from Cuba's status as a U.S. protectorate to Batista's dictatorship and Castro's revolution, from Soviet presence to the welcoming of capitalist tourism. Havana is a place of extremes: a beautifully restored colonial city whose cobblestone streets pass through areas that have not been painted or repaired since long before the revolution. Kurlansky shows Havana through the eyes of Cuban writers, such as Alejo Carpentier and José Martí, and foreigners, including Graham Greene and Hemingway. He introduces us to Cuban baseball and its highly opinionated fans; the city's music scene, alive with the rhythm of Son; its culinary legacy. Through Mark Kurlansky's multilayered and electrifying portrait, the long-elusive city of Havana comes stirringly to life.
An exploration of Havana's history and its paradoxes: a city where architectural treasures survive among the crumbling tenements; where a vibrant street life takes place amidst shortages; and where revolutionary politics, machismo and a thriving black market co-exist.
For the past 50 years, Cuban refugees and Central American immigrants have moved to an old quarter of Miami known as Little Havana. This internationally known community is famous for its sizzle, its heated ethnic politics, its entrepreneurial zest, and its colorful street life and celebrations. Before it became Little Havana, the area was home to a vast array of people, including white and black Bahamians, Jews, people from parts of the Middle East, and folks with Deep South pedigrees. The quarter's most famous neighborhoods then were Riverside and Shenandoah. Riverside emerged from the piney woods at the start of the 19th century and hosted some of the earliest city institutions, as well as picturesque homes and tree-shaded streets. Shenandoah was farmland as late as the 1920s, before a real estate boom transformed it into a neighborhood of gorgeous Mediterranean Revival-style homes. Southwest Eighth Street, the famed Calle Ocho, once divided the two neighborhoods, but the vast influx of Hispanics erased that division as the thoroughfare developed its own identity.
Discover the colourful soul of Havana with renowned photographer Heidi Hollinger! Heidi Hollinger first travelled to Havana in 1988 and has been returning often for almost 30 years. On every trip to Cuba’s capital, she visits Selene, her adoptive grandmother. She truly knows the city intimately. Like Heidi, you’ll be dazzled by Havana—the city’s endless visual feast will blow you away. She’ll introduce you to the peanut vendor who calls out “Mani” (peanuts) and offers his wares in a white paper cone; to Cuban women draped in colours and standing in doorways; and to barefoot children playing soccer in public squares. Heidi’s expert eye captures the extraordinary beauty of the Baroque and Spanish Colonial architecture, which bears witness to 400 years of history, the vibrancy of Cuba’s music, the country’s new cuisine, the rooftop terraces, the thrill of getting around by almendrón (vintage cars), the top shops and restaurants and the loveliest areas to visit. The stunning photos by the internationally known photographer will have you walking and dancing in the streets of Havana before you’ve even booked a ticket.
A survivor of the Cuban Revolution recounts his pre-war childhood as the religiously devout son of a judge, and describes the conflict's violent and irrevocable impact on his friends, family, and native home.
In modern-day Havana, the remnants of the glamorous past are everywhere—old hotel-casinos, vintage American cars & flickering neon signs speak of a bygone era that is widely familiar & often romanticized, but little understood. In Havana Nocturne, T.J. English offers a multifaceted true tale of organized crime, political corruption, roaring nightlife, revolution & international conflict that interweaves the dual stories of the Mob in Havana & the event that would overshadow it, the Cuban Revolution. As the Cuban people labored under a violently repressive regime throughout the 50s, Mob leaders Meyer Lansky & Charles "Lucky" Luciano turned their eye to Havana. To them, Cuba was the ultimate dream, the greatest hope for the future of the US Mob in the post-Prohibition years of intensified government crackdowns. But when it came time to make their move, it was Lansky, the brilliant Jewish mobster, who reigned supreme. Having cultivated strong ties with the Cuban government & in particular the brutal dictator Fulgencio Batista, Lansky brought key mobsters to Havana to put his ambitious business plans in motion. Before long, the Mob, with Batista's corrupt government in its pocket, owned the biggest luxury hotels & casinos in Havana, launching an unprecedented tourism boom complete with the most lavish entertainment, the world's biggest celebrities, the most beautiful women & gambling galore. But their dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara & others who would lead the country's disenfranchised to overthrow their corrupt government & its foreign partners—an epic cultural battle that English captures in all its sexy, decadent, ugly glory. Bringing together long-buried historical information with English's own research in Havana—including interviews with the era's key survivors—Havana Nocturne takes readers back to Cuba in the years when it was a veritable devil's playground for mob leaders. English deftly weaves together the parallel stories of the Havana Mob—featuring notorious criminals such as Santo Trafficante Jr & Albert Anastasia—& Castro's 26th of July Movement in a riveting, up-close look at how the Mob nearly attained its biggest dream in Havana—& how Fidel Castro trumped it all with the revolution.
The Rough Guide to Havana is the ultimate guide to this lively city in Cuba. The full-color section introduces the best Havana has to offer. This first edition is full of informed descriptions and accurate listings of the best bars, restaurants and music venues to be seen at with maps and plans for every area. This guide also takes a detailed look at the history of Havana. From the Museo de la Revolución and other must-visit museums and galleries to splendid architectural gems including the Catedral de San Cristóbal,the Rough Guide steers you to the best restaurants, stylish bars & cafés, and hottest nightlife across every price range. The guide provides comprehensive coverage of hotels as well as private homestays, the best places to stay for an up-close experience of life in Cuba. Extensive coverage of the outer boroughs La Lisa and Marianao complements an unprecedented level of detail for the main four city neighborhoods, Habana Vieja, Centro Habana, Vedado and Miramar.
