Bibliography - Cuba 2003

Required for this SST unit

Instead of requiring everyone to buy all of these, we'll ask the bookstore to order about five copies of each. Buy one of:

Cuba: Neither Heaven Nor Hell, by Maria Lopez Vigil (Epica Task Force; July 2000, ISBN: 0918346231) -- The author left Cuba at 16 for Spain because of her parents' strong Catholic faith. She eventually made Nicaragua her home, where she wrote extensively about revolution in Central America. She began returning to Cuba in 1984. She collects several essays written in a journalistic style, and includes feedback from Cuban friends after showing them the finished essays.

Gracias- a Latin American Journal, Henri Nouwen (Orbis Books; 1993, ISBN: 0883448513)-- If Lopez Vigil is writing about life in Cuba outside of herself, Nouwen is writing about what was going on inside him as he began to visit and live in Latin America, at a time when he was searching for a vocation.

The Voice of the Turtle: An Anthology of Cuban Stories, Peter Bush, ed. (Grove Press; 1998, ISBN: 0802135552) -- Short stories and essays by 29 Cuban authors active since the revolution. Both folks who have stayed and folks who have left are represented.

In addition, each person should bring all of this:

• Bound journal - spiral or otherwise bound, at least 100 pages. Lined paper is fine. If you're inclined to draw, you may wish to purchase a bound sketchbook instead. Or, In order to have a smaller daily load, you may wish to purchase two of the smaller bound "composition books" with a smaller page count, but totalling up more than 100 pages.
• Pens, at least one of blue, green, and black.
• Your favorite Spanish/English dictionary.

Guidebooks - optional

There are an increasing number available, and you may wish to buy one as an aide to your own explorations. I like the Rough Guide one, and have found plenty of useful stuff in the other major ones (Moon, Lonely Planet).

A short gem, that is perhaps closer to a guidebook than anything else is Mark Cramer's Culture shock--Havana at your door. He writes from the point of view of enjoying the daily pleasures of life--the informal interaction with neighbors and others in Havana--rather than the for-tourists-only pleasures. Cramer also recommends the "Footprint" guidebooks: There's one for Cuba, and another, compact one just on Havana.

Optional reading, before you go

On the Internet

Paul has been adding miscellaneous sites to his Blog on Cuba. Of particular note, he thinks, is the Cubans 2001 collection of essays written by visiting Berkeley journalism students.

Photography - quick going

Children of Cuba, Frank Staub (1996, Goshen Public Library, J972.91 STA) -- Collection of color photographs from across Cuba, depicting many uniquely Cuban sides of growing up. (Pages 12-24, Chapter 2 (38-74), 149-163).

Fidel's Cuba, a revolution in pictures, Osvaldo Salas and Roberto Salas, (Goshen Public Library, 972.91 SAL) -- This is a photographic memoir in black and white of the time just before and after the revolution. The Salas', father and son, were photographers and personal friends of Castro when he was living in New York. Robert got on the first plane he could after the revolutionaries entered Havana, and started snapping pictures. Includes unique photos of Castro fundraising in New York, of the Statue of Liberty adorned with the flag of the Movimiento Revolucionario del 26 de Julio, of captured would-be-invaders in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs, as well as many other personal photos of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

Material World, Peter Menzel (1994), & Women in the Material World, Faith d'Aluisio and Peter Menzel (GPL) -- The premise behind Peter Menzel's UN-sponsored photography project was to locate a more or less statistically average family in each of many different countries, and then take a grand picture of each family with all their worldly possesions arrayed around them. Fascinating comparisons from country to country!

There is a family from Cuba (Havana) here. Their portrait, taken probably in 92 or 93, dates from the depths of the "Special Period". Three families share a house originally intended for one.

Moderate effort

Cuba A traveler's literary companion - Ann Louise Bardach (2002). A recent compilation of 22 short stories. Again, a good mix of writers living on the island and emigres.

Inside the Revolution, Everyday Life in Socialist Cuba - Mona Rosendahl (Cornell University Press, 1997. GC Library HX 160 .P35 R67 1997). This is an ethnographic study of small town (in Oriente) by a Swedish author. She has a particular interest in looking out how ideology is used officially, in contrast to how it functions informally.

She has an intriguing chapter (that we'll use) on 'reciprocity', the intertwining of economic and social functions associated with exchanges of goods and, for that matter, exchanges about information about where you can get goods. (Chapter 2).

Castro, Cuba, and Justice, Ray Brennan (Goshen Public Library, 972.91 BRE) -- A journalistic narrative of the unfolding events of the revolution. Ray Brennan was a sympathetic US journalist who visited Castro in the Sierra Maestra in the late 1950s.

Caribbean, James Michener (1989) - Michener-esque epic sweep of all of Caribbean history. Very long but also very engaging. Hits those big themes of gold, slaves, sugar.

There's been a truck-load of writing about Cuba by non-Cubans who become inspired to write accounts based on their travels of weeks to months--Andrei Codrescu, Jacobo Timmerman, Tom Miller... Michener joins this throng at the short end with his book "Six days in Havana". This book and photographic memoir is literally based on six days in Havana, a trip that Michener made with his assistant and avid photographer John Kings while they were researching "Caribbean". Not just anyone can get a book published based on such a short stay, but one must say that Michener had been doing his share of reading ahead of time.

Most intriguing to me was his observation: 'Repeatedly, in the literature dealing with the years 1650 through 1950 I came upon statements like this: "At the height of this rebellion the wealthier and better-educated Spanish families, those who could escape, crowded into thier boats and fled to Cuba." Understandably, those who escaped rebellion ... did not want to experience another in Cuba, so the Spaniards there became increasingly conservative. This meant that Cuba was the last territory in North America to abolish slavery, in 1886, and the last by a large margin to overthrow Spanish dictatorshiop, in 1898.'

History and Politics - somewhat more dense

Latin America in the Era of the Cuban Revolution, Thomas Wright (2001) The title is a good description, and this book has very recently been updated. Though Fidel and Che felt the Cuban model could be exported, and though the US certainly feared it, it is striking that no other Latin American country has experienced a similar revolution.

Most Latin American countries spent years to decades since 1959 under military dictatorships. Intriguing factlet: Only Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico made it through the era of Cuban revolution without succumbing to military dictatorship. And two of those are in deep trouble.

But surprisingly, the decade of the 1990's saw all countries (except Cuba and Haiti) in civilian hands--the author theorizes that this was due in no small part to the universal revulsion at the repression that the military dictatorships (supported by the US in the 60's and 70's) visited on their people.

Of particular interest to Cuban SSTers would be the first two chapters -- background to and making of the revolution, and the fourth one--U.S. reaction to the revolution... in Cuba and elsewhere in Latin America.

From Columbus to Castro, The history of the Caribbean, 1492-1969, Eric Williams (1971 - GC library-- Or cheap in paperback on Amazon). The author was a Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, and it is valuable to have some history from the perspective of folks in the Caribbean. This is a long and thorough book. The author is passionate about the subject matter, and manages to draw quite a bit of history together through the lens of labor and slavery, so that it is on the whole surprisingly engaging. Still, this is long, and many of the themes go much beyond just Cuba.

For Cuban SSTers, the main chapters of interest would be those that deal with the early colonial period (though he doesn't seem to bring up the role of disease, along with the abuse that certainly existed in wiping out the Tainos), the sudden rise of Cuban sugar in the 19th century, and the abolition of slavery.