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Havana: Autobiography of a City
Havana: Autobiography of a City takes readers from the Plaza de Armas, the tree-lined square where Havana was founded by conquistadors in 1519, to the Malecon, the elegant boulevard along the shore where Fidel Castro rode a Russian tank in triumph. Estrada portrays the adventurers and dreamers who left their mark on Havana, including Jose Marti, martyr for Cuban independen
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Hardcover
,
275 pages
Published
March 20th 2007
by Palgrave MacMillan
(first published January 1st 2007)
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Community Reviews
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103)
Love it! Easy read and lots interesting info for those who care about Cuba
It was OK, but not expansive enough on so rich a subject.
A well written book, by an Cuban expatriot, he obviously did his research into the history of Cuba, many anecdotes about Che, Castro and all those characters that were part of the revolutiong, and although Mr Estrada now lives in Texas, he has written this as a historical piece, the notes tell me " It is vivid enough to make an exile weep, when Havana finally sheds its monstrous dictatorship, this will be the book to take along and savor , page by page street by street"Mr Estrade affords us a lo
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Truly an "autobiography" of Havana, interspersed with history, geography and culture. The tale includes numerous vignettes and interesting facts.
In the city that brought us the rumba, mojitos, daiquiris, the Cuban cigar and fine rum, author Estrada shows us characters such as Christopher Columbus and Ponce de Leon, pirates, the Spanish treasure fleet, plantation owners, slavers and slaves, and rebel Jose Marti. We meet Hearst's newspaper reporters, the exploding battleship Maine, Teddy Roosevel ...more
In the city that brought us the rumba, mojitos, daiquiris, the Cuban cigar and fine rum, author Estrada shows us characters such as Christopher Columbus and Ponce de Leon, pirates, the Spanish treasure fleet, plantation owners, slavers and slaves, and rebel Jose Marti. We meet Hearst's newspaper reporters, the exploding battleship Maine, Teddy Roosevel ...more
While I enjoyed reading about the early history of Cuba I was disappointed with Alfredo's criticisms of Cuba with its situation now. The embargo is still on going and yes Castro has not been the greatest of leaders but the U.S. shoulders much of the blame for Cuba's ills.
Superb!!
This Havana/Cuban history will never be confused with the Hugh Thomas edition "Cuba" (almost 1,200 pages)....and that is a good thing. This was the best over-all history I have read about Havana/Cuba, and I have read several. It is not the most comprehensive in any one area, but that does not deter the fact that it is a tremendous read. There is plenty of material out there if you want to read about specific Cuban history like the Sugar Baron's or the Revolution etc. This covers everythi ...more
This Havana/Cuban history will never be confused with the Hugh Thomas edition "Cuba" (almost 1,200 pages)....and that is a good thing. This was the best over-all history I have read about Havana/Cuba, and I have read several. It is not the most comprehensive in any one area, but that does not deter the fact that it is a tremendous read. There is plenty of material out there if you want to read about specific Cuban history like the Sugar Baron's or the Revolution etc. This covers everythi ...more
view all 3 comments
Jan 12, 2012
Mary
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
non-fiction
,
cuba
,
history
,
capitalism
,
crime
,
entertainment
,
havana
,
latin-america
,
politic
,
revolution
,
ussr
,
violence
A great overview of Havana, and oftentimes Cuba overall. The chapters cover diverse topics and provide enough info to be informative, written well so that it's an enjoyable read - but not so much that it becomes boring. Other reviews may comment that this is not a massive, in-depth look at Havana - but not everyone wants that. If you're traveling to Havana and want a good read to put you in-the-know, this is probably the book you are looking for.
Excellent overview of Cuban history within the frame of Havana. Exciting and easy to read, with a bit more military history than I wanted, but plenty of social, artistic, and political history, too. Just enough anecdotes and asides from the author to make him personable and to put the book in context. A fantastic book to have while visiting the country.
This history of Havana made me want to read a history of Havana. It was more anecdotal than narrative and I got lost occasionally in the time line. But it had enough interesting bits to make me want to read a straight narrative.
So-so writing, interesting subject. The history of the triangle-trade, colonial tensions, immigration, and revolution are very interesting. The author's personal reflections and gossipy bits on Hemingway are very dull.
Excellent book. Read it in preparation for our trip to Cuba in January; when we gifted it to our Cuban tour guide, he remarked it's one of the best written about Havana. A great read.
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