Fat cigars, big cars, dirty money, vibrant music, intellectual ferment. Havana, since its creation in 1535, has long offered a unique, bewildering mix of the backward and the hip, the seedy and the sophisticated. In many respects, it shares the characteristics of other colonial or post-colonial cities of the Caribbean and Latin America. But at the same time, Havana created its own niche both as an international city and a dynamic national capital. Despite Cuba's fluctuating fortunes, Havana has always managed to thrive and develop its own unique character as an urban, social, economic, cultural and political site. Havana offers a sweeping account of the city and its cultural development, focusing especially on the last two centuries and on the role played by the city's cultural communities in the search for national identity. The author introduces us to a marginal city with roots in the sixteenth century, taking us through the periods when it was a sugar boomtown, pulled between empires, a decadent metropolis, a site of both cultural revolution and relative stagnation during the development of the Revolution to its revival in the 1990s. He looks at the often creative tensions between external influences (especially Spain, France and the United States) and indigenous cultural pressures. Areas covered include architecture, literature, music, dance, cinema and the press. Cosmopolitan playground and nationalist vanguard, Havana has developed its own style while at the same time both reflecting and directing the complicated politics of the whole of Cuba. This book offers a concise introduction to one of the most intriguing cities of the twenty-first century.

As spiritual home of Che Guevara and arch-enemy of the United States for more than forty years, Cuba exerts a powerful hold over people's imaginations. The Revolution and its leader, Fidel Castro, have survived invasion, repeated external and internal crisis, and most astonishingly, economic collapse and political isolation. What is at the root of the continuity and success of the 'Revolution' and in what sense can it be termed a 'revolution'? This book is the first in-depth study of Cuba to examine its history and revolutionary transformation through the evolution of ideology and myth. Music, political campaigns, street and media propaganda, literature, cinema, and drama have served to establish a cubanista tradition, supported by powerful myths such as Che Guevara and Jose Marti, the New Man, youth, and an Afro-Cuban identity. Challenging preconceptions and conventional wisdoms about Cuba and its leadership, this book presents a remarkable portrait of the distinctive history of the island's culture. The interplay of history, revolutionary action, and ideology through myth and collective experience make this book essential reading for Cuban scholars, Latin American and US historians, political analysts and those generally interested in the history and future of Cuban political culture.

This work is a completely new Historical Dictionary for Cuba (the first since 1988). It gives a comprehensive and detailed coverage and analysis of all of the key elements, factors, biographies, narratives, and treaties in Cuban history from the 1400s to the present day, with an emphasis on the decades after 1959. Historical Dictionary of Cuba, Third Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 1.000 cross-referenced entries on important personalities as well as aspects of the country's politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Cuba.

The 1970s have largely been overlooked in scholarly studies of the Cuban Revolution, or, at the very least, dismissed simply as a period of "Sovietization" characterized by widespread bureaucratization, institutionalization, and adherence to Soviet orthodoxy. Consequently, scant research exists that examines the major changes that took place across the decade and their role in determining the course of the Revolution. This book provides, for the first time, a comprehensive assessment of the 1970s which challenges prevailing interpretations. Drawing from multidisciplinary perspectives and exploring a range of areas-including politics, international relations, culture, education, and healthcare-its contributing authors demonstrate that the decade was a time of intense transformation which proved pivotal to the development of the Revolution. Indeed, many of the ideas, approaches, policies, and legislation developed and tested during the 1970s maintain a very visible legacy in contemporary Cuba. In highlighting the complexity of the 1970s, this volume ultimately aims to contribute to a greater understanding of the Cuban Revolution and how it chooses to face the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Available in paperback for the first time, this book brings an original and innovative approach to a much-misunderstood aspect of the Cuban Revolution: the place of literature and the creation of a literary culture. Based on over 100 interviews with a wide range of actors involved in the structures and processes that produce, regulate, promote and consume literature on the island, the book breaks new ground by going beyond the conventional approach (the study of individual authors and texts) and by going beyond the canon of texts known outside Cuba. It thus presents a historical analysis of the evolution of literary culture from 1959 to the present, as well as a series of more detailed case studies (on writing workshops, the Havana Book Festival and the publishing infrastructure) which reveal how this culture is created in contemporary Cuba. It thus contributes a new and complex vision of revolutionary Cuban culture which is as detailed as it is comprehensive. -- .

The 1970s have largely been overlooked in scholarly studies of the Cuban Revolution, or, at the very least, dismissed simply as a period of "Sovietization" characterized by widespread bureaucratization, institutionalization, and adherence to Soviet orthodoxy. Consequently, scant research exists that examines the major changes that took place across the decade and their role in determining the course of the Revolution. This book provides, for the first time, a comprehensive assessment of the 1970s which challenges prevailing interpretations. Drawing from multidisciplinary perspectives and exploring a range of areas-including politics, international relations, culture, education, and healthcare-its contributing authors demonstrate that the decade was a time of intense transformation which proved pivotal to the development of the Revolution. Indeed, many of the ideas, approaches, policies, and legislation developed and tested during the 1970s maintain a very visible legacy in contemporary Cuba. In highlighting the complexity of the 1970s, this volume ultimately aims to contribute to a greater understanding of the Cuban Revolution and how it chooses to face the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Much of the conventional literature on, and most media readings of, the Cuban Revolution have tended to be mesmerised by the personality and role of Fidel Castro, an interpretation which has often prevented a deeper political understanding of the Revolution's underlying structures, bases of popular loyalty and ethos of participation. In this groundbreaking work, Anthony Kapcia offers a much-needed corrective to 'Fidel-centric' histories of the Cuban revolution, focussing instead on a wider cast of characters unknown to casual observers of the post-1959 process. Besides the more obvious (albeit often misunderstood) contributions from Che Guevara and Raul Castro, each decade since has seen several key players involved in the processes of decision-making, often making a significant difference to the outcome of debates, decisions and definitions. As well as analysing their influence, Kapcia interprets their various roles within a wider process of nation-building, demonstrating that Cuba has undergone an unusual, if not unique, process of revolutionary corporatism. Essential reading for anyone interested in Cuba's history and its possible future direction.

Few island nations have stirred the soul like Cuba. From Hemingway's intoxicating Havana to Ry Cooder's Buena Vista Social Club, outsiders have persistently been fascinated by Cuba for its music (jazz to rumba), its rich literature, its art and dance (danzon to mambo) and perhaps above all for its bold experiment of a socialist revolution in action. Antoni Kapcia shows how the thaw in relations between Cuba and the USA now makes a fresh appraisal of the country and its modern history essential. He authoritatively explores the `essence' of the Cuban revolution, revealing it to be a maverick phenomenon tied not so much to socialism or Communism for their own sakes but instead to an idealistic vision of postcolonial nationalism. Reassessing the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the author examines the central personalities: not just the famous trio of Che Guevara, Fidel and Raul Castro in shaping the ideas of the revolution but, still further back, the visionary ideology of Jose Marti. Kapcia's book reflects on the future of the revolution as Raul and his government begin to cede power to a new generation.

Fat cigars, big cars, dirty money, vibrant music, intellectual ferment, international tourism Havana, since its creation in 1535, has long offered a unique, bewildering mix of the backward and the hip, the seedy and the sophisticated. In many respects, it has seemed to share many of the characteristics of other colonial or post-colonial cities of the Caribbean and Latin America. But at the same time, Havana created its own niche both as an international city and a dynamic national capital on the one hand, one that both embraced and stood in opposition to its great neighbour of the North, and, on the other hand, one that simultaneously led the Cuban national search for identity and acted as a port of entry for external influences. Yet, despite Cubas fluctuating fortunes, Havana has always managed to thrive and develop its own unique character as an urban, social, economic, cultural and political site. Havana offers a sweeping account of the city and its cultural development, focusing especially on the last two centuries and on the role played by the city's cultural communities in the search for national identity. century, taking us through the periods when it was a sugar boomtown, pulled between empires, a decadent metropolis, a site of both cultural revolution and relative stagnation during the development of the Revolution to its revival in the 1990s. He looks at the often creative tensions between external influences (especially Spain, France and the United States) and indigenous cultural pressures. Areas covered include architecture, literature, music, dance, cinema and the press. Cosmopolitan playground and nationalist vanguard, Havana has developed its own original style while at the same time both reflecting and directing the complicated politics of the whole of Cuba. This book offers a concise introduction to one of the most intriguing cities of the twenty-first century.

As spiritual home of Che Guevara and arch-enemy of the United States for more than forty years, Cuba exerts a powerful hold over people's imaginations. The Revolution and its leader, Fidel Castro, have survived invasion, repeated external and internal crisis, and most astonishingly, economic collapse and political isolation. What is at the root of the continuity and success of the 'Revolution' and in what sense can it be termed a 'revolution'? This book is the first in-depth study of Cuba to examine its history and revolutionary transformation through the evolution of ideology and myth. Music, political campaigns, street and media propaganda, literature, cinema, and drama have served to establish a cubanista tradition, supported by powerful myths such as Che Guevara and Jose Marti, the New Man, youth, and an Afro-Cuban identity. Challenging preconceptions and conventional wisdoms about Cuba and its leadership, this book presents a remarkable portrait of the distinctive history of the island's culture. The interplay of history, revolutionary action, and ideology through myth and collective experience make this book essential reading for Cuban scholars, Latin American and US historians, political analysts and those generally interested in the history and future of Cuban political culture.

Much of the conventional literature on, and most media readings of, the Cuban Revolution have tended to be mesmerised by the personality and role of Fidel Castro, an interpretation which has often prevented a deeper political understanding of the Revolution's underlying structures, bases of popular loyalty and ethos of participation. In this groundbreaking work, Anthony Kapcia offers a much-needed corrective to 'Fidel-centric' histories of the Cuban revolution, focussing instead on a wider cast of characters unknown to casual observers of the post-1959 process. Besides the more obvious (albeit often misunderstood) contributions from Che Guevara and Raul Castro, each decade since has seen several key players involved in the processes of decision-making, often making a significant difference to the outcome of debates, decisions and definitions. As well as analysing their influence, Kapcia interprets their various roles within a wider process of nation-building, demonstrating that Cuba has undergone an unusual, if not unique, process of revolutionary corporatism. Essential reading for anyone interested in Cuba's history and its possible future direction.