Caribbean Books

"Haiti," by Roseline Ngcheong-Lum, is part of the "Festivals of the World" book series. This book combines a very readable text with many wonderful full-color photographs. Also included are a map, glossary, and index. There are also instructions for making a Haitian-inspired Carnival headdress, as well as a recipe for the dessert known as blancmange.

The book explains such festivals as Carnival, Mardi Gras, Haitian Independence Day, and the Day of the Dead. A number of related topics are covered: the voodoo religion, beliefs about zombies, and the importance of Haitian heroes like Toussaint L'Ouverture. The photographs are really great: we see a statue memorializing national hero Henri Christophe, a richly decorated church interior, a colorfully decorated "taptap" (public bus), and more. Overall, a fine entry in this series.

The trial of Arthur Hodge for murdering one of his slaves began on the Caribbean island of Tortola at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, April 29, 1811. The proceedings went on continuously until 5:00 a.m. on April 30. The jury deliberated until 8:00 a.m. on that same day and returned a verdict of guilty. Arthur Hodge was hanged two days later. This trial was used in England as a significant reference to bring about the abolition of slavery in the West Indies. This book portrays in vivid detail the lifestyle of plantation owners like Hodge and the slaves of that era, as well as the abuses that Hodge and other plantation owners made their "property" (the slaves) suffer. John Andrews is to be commended for his professional presentation that makes this book an excellent resource for researchers as well as a good read for those wishing to be informed of the slave trade era.

Hailed by the New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year when it was first released, this is a lyrically written chronicle of Cuba as seen through the eyes of the women of a prominent, yet notorious, Cuban family. It is also an elegant narrative of Cuba's past and its present, its good and its bad. Its genesis is the Cuban-American author's own memories of a pre-Castro Cuba of the nineteen forties and fifties, still steeped in its colonial miasma, redolent of family, traditions, and a certain indolence that was reserved for those who lived the life of patrones. I was drawn to this book, as I am also a Cuban-American, and the author's memories in many ways are mine, as well.

I was also intrigued by the intimate portrait of Castro's one time mistress, Naty Revuelta, and the history of her family as set against the backdrop of Cuba. I was interested in how her illicit relationship with a young, fiery revolutionary by the name of Fidel Castro would forever change her life and that of her family. Her family's fortunes and misfortunes parallel those of Cuba itself. Castro's own relationship with his island country would forever change Cuba also, turning it from a colonial paradise for the rich and well-to-do into a crumbling relic from the past, offspring of the mating between heady and romantic revolutionary rhetoric and reality.

Engrossing and memorable in its telling, the author paints a poignant, and fully engaging portrait of Naty, her mother, Dona Natica, a Batista era socialite, and Naty's two daughters, Alina and Nina, one of whom is the fruit of Naty's brief intimate relationship with Castro, the other the daughter of her cuckolded husband. Both her daughters are now expatriates, living in the United States. The story of Naty's family is presented in all its heartbreak and is artfully drawn against the grand panorama of what is modern Cuban history. This is a masterful and luminous book that will appeal to those with an interest in Cuba, as well as to those who enjoy a well-written memoir, steeped in historical context. Bravo!

Excellent book on Havana's architecture from Colonial times to the present. It is a very well structured book with a camera eye that gets deeply into the soul of the city.

This book takes us to a living tour of Havana's dwellings from "Palaces to Huts" showing through beautiful and insightful details the diversity of styles that characterizes the organized anarchy of this city.

La Habana captures the ingenuity, creativity and diversity of the cuban mind in the instance of a building. It also shows how this creative mind has been shut down by the experiments on communism.

This biography of Cuban revolutionary Haydee Santamaria was my favorite volume of Ocean Press's "Rebel Lives" series. More than any other of them, it best accomplishes the goal of introducing an important and interesting -- even inspiring -- figure who is almost completely unknown to English-speaking audiences.

Haydee Santamaria was one of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s, one of only two women to take part in Fidel Castro's ill-fated assault on a government garrison on 26 July 1953. Her brother and fiance both died in the attack, and she herself was jailed. After her release, she rejoined Castro, working undercover for his guerrilla fighters and even travelling to the United States to raise funds and purchase equipment.

Following the victory of the revolution on New Year's Day 1959, Santamaria became director of the Casa de las Americas, a cultural institution that supported Latin American art and literature. By focusing on promoting Latin American culture and assisting victims of persecution by military regimes in the region, she had an unambiguously positive role. Unlike other, better known Cuban revolutionaries such as Castro and Che Guevara, she was not tainted by Cuba's development into a single-party state with serious deficiencies in democracy and human rights.

After a 13 page introduction, chronology and biographical sketch by editor Betsy Maclean, the remaining 110 pages are divided into two sections of roughly equal length. The first, "Fire", consists of a few long interviews with Santamaria and essays by her, about her role in the Cuban revolution and the Casa de las Americas. The second section, "Light", is filled with a large number of short tributes to her (mostly on the occasion of her death in 1980), including contributions from Juan Almeida, Alejandro Obregon, Silvio Rodriguez, and of course Castro and Che.

The image that emerges both from Santamaria's own words and the tributes of her friends and comrades is of a determined, dedicated, profoundly human being, open and kind, but principled and passionate, deeply scarred by tragedy throughout her life, nevertheless continuing on as long as she could. I had never heard of Santamaria before picking up this book, which showed me a truly inspiring figure. By the end I was deeply interested in Maclean's discussion of why "this giant of revolutionary history, this shining example of feminism and internationalism, [has] been relegated to the shadowy corners of Latin American political memory".

Recommended for all those who have not yet heard of Haydee Santamaria, especially teachers interested in obtaining primary sources relating to the Cuban revolution.

This is an extremely interesting and colorful book with select works of the artist Herve di Rosa. Rosa, who splits his residence between France and Mexico displays in this book his unique paintings inspired by Mexican culture and his travels around the world to the different continents. The text is written in three languages on one page, Spanish, French and English. Whenever there is text, it is in three different colors, one for each language. This makes for colorful reading to go along with the smash of colorful imagery of landscapes and objects splaterred thoughout this book. Di Rosa subjects are everyday images found in Mexico and world popular culture. Everything from a pinata party to retablos, from African villages to war protest posters is exhibited and fair game for the Di Rosas palette. His pop art is surreal and unusual as he infuses comic book type imagery with strange dimensions, utilizing anything such as grid street maps or playing cards as a background for his subject. The result is very unique and rather mind blowing art. There are tremendous details in the colorful works of Di Rosa. It is said that he paints as he does because it comes "from the deepest regions of a soul bewitched by the colors and forms to which it always abandons itself in the continous, lucid delirium of an artist who has never paid any tribute to any "ism"." His art is Andy Warholesque through the eyes of a possessed shaman. At the end of the book there is an explantion and small pictures of the original art pieces with the dimensions and media used. There is also a list of the many exhibitions he has participated in, begining in 1959 through 2002 and the prizes he has won in different competitions. If you like the art of Herve Di Rosa than this would be a good book for your art book collection. Recommended for pop art lovers and collectors of art books.

I really enjoyed this book. Although it's very sad, it is a great insight into life in the 'yard' in Jamaica in the 70s. Highly recommended.

"Historia de Cuba" is an excellent and well written book on Cuban history. Not written from the politically correct modern American view of history, but by Cuban scholars who reach back to their own realities to explain a very complex and rich social and political experience. Cuba has a political history older than that of the USA, and a culture that has impacted the world in proportions much greater than its geographic size. This is a good source for anyone interested in a professional and authorative history of the Pearl of the Antilles.

I found the book very entertaining and gave me an insight on how things were in the early days of the cuban revolution. again an exelent book. This one's for you Vicente!!

For anyone interested in the history of Jamaica, this is a real treasure trove of a book. It is chock full of photographs, historic and modern maps, and historic prints on most every page. After describing the land and people before Columbus arrived, Buisseret covers the 16th c. Spanish period, the 17th c. invasion of the English, the 18th c. plantation system, 19th c. emancipation, and 20th c. independence, often giving fascinating tidbits of information that are hard to find elsewhere.
The modern aerial photos, by J. Tyndale-Biscoe, along with complimenting maps, of nearly every historic site mentioned are entrancing. You get a thorough tour of the island without having set foot there, along with a good overall history lesson spiced with intriguing details.
For any student of Caribbean piracy, this is a must. Much coverage is given to Port Royal, Spanish Town, and many other sites from the Buccaneer Era and Golden Age of Piracy.
The crown jewel of this book is the frontispiece - a reconstructed sketch map of Port Royal "as it may have appeared in about the year 1690", with streets, houses, major buildings, forts, wharfs, and landings, drawn by Oliver Cox in 1991.