Caribbean Books

"Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War, 1956-58" is Ernesto Guevara’s own account of the final 2 years of the revolutionary war that led to the first socialist revolution of the Americas. Ernesto “Che” Guevara, born in Argentina in 1928, became a central leader of the Cuban revolution of 1959. Many people in the United States today know only a romanticized version of this outstanding communist leader through such things as the recent film, “The Motorcycle Diaries.” "Episodes" is an unexaggerated, honest account of how the last years of the Cuban revolutionary war were conducted. This marvelous book tells the real story of how the young, adventurous Ernesto Guevara – whose compassion for and interest in the peoples of Latin America shows even in “The Motorcycle Diaries” – became Che Guevara, the committed, Marxist leader. Full of warmth, eloquence, and, at times, poetic sensibilities, Che’s diaries show us how the Cuban communist leadership was forged in battle; how the revolutionary combatants cemented bonds with peasants in the countryside and with workers in the cities; and how a popular revolutionary government was built on these foundations. This book is a must-read for any revolutionary minded fighter today.

Why does Cuba provide doctors for underdeveloped countries throughout the world-something which far richer countries are unwilling to do? This book by Che shows how Fidel Castro's revolutionary movement has always taken the moral high ground, going back to their triumph over hated dictator Batista. Che documents the reasons for this in these articles, many of which were written as the fighting was going on. He discusses the revolutionaries' respect for the peasants and the way the peasants helped to move the revolutionaries toward a deeper understanding of the class forces involved in the Cuban revolution. This made it possible to integrate many peasants into the revolutionary army. Che describes the care that was taken to treat rank and file enemy soldiers well, especially the wounded. His crystal clear writing style and fine sense of humor are based on a total grasp of the situation. This book includes two superb articles on Che, one by his comrade Fidel Castro and another by the editor, Mary-Alice Waters, as well as valuable notes, glossary, chronology, and index. While amazon may list this book as unavailable from time to time, it is always available from booksfrompathfinder listed under "new and used" at the top of this page.

Che's unique and splendid writting style manifests itself in this excellent book, detailing the myriad battles and episodes of the Cuban Revolution. A must for all!!!

First, a great book! Second, the author is none other than Che Guevara. Third, humorously and eloquently written, Che explains a revolutionary's fight for a better life in Cuba leading up to the victory in 1959! A must read for any Che or Cuba fan!

A little boy who doesn't like to read much is entranced by these Jack Sparrow books. They're well written for kids with a sense of adventure. Like the Hardy Boys or a dozen other series before them, they deliver a consistent and familiar character in cleverly worked plots. The one thing I'd like to change would be to add few more illustrations. All you get here is the illustration on the cover.

The shipment was on time. Honest description of the product. I got what I was hoping to get, it was received sooner than anticipated. My 11year-old son for whom this book was purchased, was especially happy to get the book wihtin three days. Will most likely purchase other products from this seller.

Both my son and I love this series. Even as a young man Captain Jack is true to himself. He hasn't changed a bit!!!!

I question whether Rob Kidd actually exists. For the Disney people to have come up with William Kidd would have been too obvious. So they came up with Robert, which is just as 17th century sounding a name as William.

This being said my nephew seems to love these books, which is good. He seems to have little interest in the true literary swashbuckling classic "Treasure Island," which is unfortunate. I do not think, however, that we should blame Disney and its team of Kidd writers for that...yet.

As I said, my nephew loves this series and while they are not R. L. Stevenson they are mildly entertaining and not long, so no a lot of time is consumed reading them. There are some definite holes in the plots and inconsistencies but they are not the kind of thing that 9-year-olds typically tend to overlook.

I would love to be reading something of more literary merit with my nephew but that is not to be, not at this time anyway. In the end it is not the worst book you could choose to bond with a child over.

Pablo Neruda writes in a style that is so accessible and yet so elegant..
Extravagaria is the first of his books of poems that I have read (having only read some selected poems of his before) - to read the poems as they were meant to be read in this collection is a delight.. I only wish I could read them in Spanish - I guess I will have to hit the books...

A wonderful collection of Naruda's work. There is a sense of settling down in these collection of his work that is really quite beautiful. I also find Alastair Reid's translation more beautiful than others I've seen. The original spanish text on the opposite page is also nice and handy to have.

One of the most interesting books I have ever read. It taught me that there's poetry in every movement we make and every moment we live.

Pablo touched me as no poet that I have read in the last 25 years. His lines particularly sees the world with wisened eyes, writen in his later days. He embraces his past occationally crushing it with bittersweet energy. At the same time he looks forward to rest and what's next. He never stopped Becoming, as Sarte would say, through the years. "Her" declares the need and joy of loving and working life together with his spouse. "Larnyx" chills with news from the doctor that all of humanity dreads.

The spanish on the facing page lets one glimpse at hidden meanings, reaching back for our Spanish 101 or Elementary Latin, a treat. If you buy one poetry book this year, this should be the one. If you are silver haired, as I, then this is the poetry of the decade for you.

I thoroughly enjoyed this very interesting history of the early days of Fidel Castro's revolution in Cuba. The photos of Osvaldo Salas and his son Roberto, personal photographers and confidants of "el jeffe", have never been seen in the US. The personal anecdotes relating to Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are fascinating and give new insight into these historic characters. It is fascinating to read that the long hair and beards of the 60's anti-establishment hippie movement had its roots with the "barbudos" the soldiers of Fidel's revolution. The chapter on the bay of pigs invasion gives new insight to this historic event. The beautiful photos in the chapter, Cuba the land and the people are stuning. Overall a good read, great photography of an interesting topic.

Soon Castro may be judged by history, as he once claimed he wanted to be, and the facts point in the direction of a dark, blood-stained judgement. Nonetheless, the photography in this book is a brilliant work of photojournalist art.

They take us from the tender beginnings of a Revolution of bearded young men against a bloody tyrant. They are young gods in olive-green uniforms. The photo of Camilo Cienfuegos and another unidentified bearded guerrilla in front of the Lincoln statue in the Lincoln Memorial in DC is magnificent. What did America think of these young white men, in their dark, long hair and their huge beards? It stunned and seduced the nation and the seeds of the hippie movement were planted.

The book delivers with visual insight and power. The photographs are vivid and full of history. My highest possible rating!

Apart from the amazing photography, which captures an epoch so freqently only seen through CIA-filtered eyes, the book is a simple overview of the Cuban revolution and the real people of Cuba - not just the materialistic bourgouisie - who supported Castro and still do. Most enigmatic of all are the photos of Castro and Che, and then just Che, his magnetism shining through regardless of his beliefs.

Set your politics aside. Look at this wonderful book and ponder how close Fidel and Che came to actually getting it right.

For the millions of Americans who have only ( until recently ie since the Pope's visit to Cuba ) seen Fidel as a military man this book adds a bit of humanity to that image. The imae of him as a threat to my safety is a view I could only suspect was being presented me as my government's own bit of propaganda (thinking of how recent publication's on how the Soviets used photography as a tool to control the masses) I was genuinely pleased to have my suspicions confirmed.

Nonetheless, upon opening this book, one finds that it is more than meets the eye. It is not the political treatise one might expect. I am grateful for the honesty the son (Roberto) gave in the acknowledging the irony in being both a suporter of the cause as well as a photographer/reporter of history.

Of particular interest, which I think self taught photographers may find of interest, is the many anecdotes on how Roberto and his father "made do" with what little equipment they had (both before going to Cuba and after) and how they shared equipment. Such disclosures dispell the popular belief that an aspiring photographers needs all the latest gadgetry that manufacturers pump out. The kind of "socialism they [Cubana] fought for is the kind struggling artist could practice.

From a political perspective. The book (story) of how the U.S. Government ousts individuals be they journalist or subversives is touched on. This is a book that may touch the heart and the soul of a anyone who suspects Cuba and Castro have stories to tell. Finally, it is a photographic feast of photojournalism from the inside of not only the revolution but the photographers who documented it.

If you are interested in the hurricane history of any special state or region, this is probably the finest work of its kind written to date. Following a superb introduction to our subject, the author describes every significant or noteworthy storm to hit Florida since the 1700's. Each entry includes a map showing the storm's track through the state. We learn of the unique impact each had on the sunshine state. Some hurricanes, of course, like Agnes, had major impacts outside of Florida, and Barnes writes of these as well. Looking through these pages also shows us the cyclical nature of storms. In some years disaster hit several times, while other periods (like the 70's), saw little activity of any kind.

I found this edition to be much better than the author's NC one, if for no other reason than Florida's more active history! While some hurricanes listed in the other book may be of interest mostly to locals, the ones here, like the Labor Day and Miami storm, are truly important historically. I would hope Barnes is writing on the hurricane history of other states as well.

My earliest memory was Hurricane Donna, and I have been intrigued by hurricanes ever since. This book offers a considerable amount of historical data along with fascinating accounts. Highly recommended to anybody who would like to learn more about the history of hurricanes in Florida.

Great photos, and all the detail you could ever want on Florida hurricanes. The survival stories are frightening! All the weather data is there. It's a great resource for us hurricane junkies!

What a great book. We've enjoyed the stories of the memorable storms like Donna, Andrew, and Opal and the effect theyve had on generations of Florida residents. The 1926 Miami and 1928 Okeechobee are well covered. Also very interesting reading on those storms we've never heard of. The photographs are stunning-and frightening. Its organized well, and the reading is not too technical. It stays on our coffee table.

We just pulled out this book again to plan a trip in 2007. It is jam packed with lots of useful overviews and info of the whole Caribbean.

Truly can not plan a trip to paradise without this book. Fodors is IMO the leader of the genre of tropical travel books.

This 2005 edition is thoroughly up-to-date and crammed full of useful information.

Best of breed!

Still the best. Comprehensive, well organized, easy on the eyes, easy on the hands, and compact enough to take wherever you go. None of those fancy-schmancy pictures and other graphics that just distract you from what you're looking for. Of course, as with all guidebooks, sometimes the ratings make you wonder what they were smoking at the time; also I could do without those advertisement pages in the middle of the book. DON'T RELY TOO MUCH ON OUTDATED EDITIONS, because of how often places open and close, or are affected by construction, hurricanes, and whatever else, or just change hands (which means the quality can change).

Fodor's Caribbean is different from other Fodor's guidebooks; in most cases (Fodor's London, Fodor's Paris) the traveler is beginning with the specific destination in mind. Those guidebooks are geared to get as much as possible out of a given city. Fodor's Caribbean is designed to help the reader to DECIDE where to go.

The Caribbean is a vast area and each island is different from the next. There is something there for everybody. It runs the gamut in terms of cultures and prices. The first sixty-six pages of this book are filled with general information about the Caribbean to help you plan your trip. The "What's Where" section is especially helpful; it gives a paragraph breakdown on each island. This is followed by the equally useful "Island Finder" chart: this is a graph with all the islands arranged vertically and every possible category of interest (price, beaches, golf, night-life, etc.) arranged horizontally. Each island's price and activities are rated to help you determine which one is best for your interests and your budget. The introduction also has a ton of other useful information, such as when to go, currency, events, and various other travel tips.

The bulk of the book (and it is a bulky book) is like an encyclopedia of islands; each island (or island cluster) has its own chapter that tells you everything you could possibly want to know about it: history, location, size, population, activities, events, etc. Of course, all the restaurants and hotels are rated according to quality and price.

For my money, the best islands in the Caribbean are the smaller ones that take more trouble to get to. St. Barth's used to be the best and most inexpensive island; now it is the best and MOST expensive. Then, little-known Anguilla became the "new" St. Barth's; now, it is almost as expensive as the old St. Barth's. Believe it or not, there are still islands in the Caribbean that you have never heard of, which are unique and authentic and make for the best vacations. Take Saba, for example: this is an island so small that the islanders only go by their first names. Saba is simply a volcano rising out of the ocean. There are no beaches on Saba, but it has some of the best diving around. There are other islands out there - this book will help you find them.

We were looking for a place to go on our honeymoon in the Caribbean, but could not decide on which island to choose. This guide provided a great table comparing all the islands based on hotels, restaurants, activities, etc. and then a detailed description of each island. Would definitely recomment as a great starting point in planning your Caribbean vacation.

Informative and fun, has the facts straight (the few that I can verify as an infrequent but enthusiastic visitor).

It is difficult finding information on the small island of Dominica. This book covers it and has a lot of useful information, as well as general travel information.

This book is very informative. The price was very good and it got to me fast!

Great book to throw in your backpack and take with you on the cruise. You can bone up on a bit of the history and it will get some ideas ffor excursions or places to visit on the islands.

These books are great tools. I have cruised many times and I still consult them before every cruise. I would say they are must haves for first timers. They summarize the Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, as well as many debarkation ports. What I find most useful is the information provided on each of the cruise lines and cruise ships. If you are unsure which ship would be best for you and your family this book will definitely help you decide. I would caution potential buyers visiting very small or less popular islands. Places like Anguilla, Trinidad and Tobago are noticeably absent from the book.

I have always turned to Frommer's for honest reviews of just about any destination. Their website is full of great info too

I have cruised many times before and found this book to be quite honest in its observations. We are sailing to Hawaii and I was able to find the information I wanted. I think this is a great resource for anyone considering a cruise vacation.

I am a true lover of the work of Pablo Neruda and have perused many
translated works of the famous Chilean poet.
Stephen Mitchell's translations are by far the most eloquent I have found. I feel they best convey the many moods of Pablo Neruda. The writer is able to capture the most intense feelings in the poet's writing better than any I have read. Thank you Stephen Mitchell.

This is a lovely translation, but then I think of them all as good. There is no comparison for me to any other poet. Keep this or any of his books near your bed to understand the earth, sea, mountains, love, stones, earth, grace, redemption, cats, neighbors, friends, etc. The depth and breadth is expansive and this is a "sweet" book.

Having been interested in Neruda since seeing the movie "Il Postino," I've glanced at several collections for over 3 years, but never took a book home for my own. Looking for a collection that contained "Ode to Laziness" (one of my favorite subjects), I found and purchased Full Woman, Fleshly Apple, Hot Moon. I sat down in a big chair on a Sunday afternoon and opened it to the first page and the love affair started there. Usually, I read a book of poems randomly, just flipping here and there, looking for whatever surprizes me. For some unknown reason, I started this book from the beginning with Mitchell's introduction, then read the first poem. I couldn't help myself as I read one poem and then another till I had carefully read almost every one. Pure spirit, pure soul. Each poem is a love poem to the most simple, everyday, ordinary things of this world--his suit, his socks, his watch--engaging us to see a sheer web of grace that runs through out our lives. Put another way, Neruda sees and shows us a world that shimmers and loves us as fully as we love it.

Many thanks to S. Mitchell for creating this collection.

Stephen Mitchell translates an assortment of Neruda's lesser known poems that rank among his personal favorites. You can tell Mitchell truly loves these works as Neruda's voice almost literally sings off the page in English. The book itself is beautifully constructed with a painting by Gaugin adorning the cover. When you hold it in your hands, you will know you have discovered something truly special. You may also be interested in Mitchell's lovely translations of Rilke.

Anthony Winkler is a really gifted author and he has a talent for clearly reproducing the essence of raw Jamaica, even if it is a Jamaica that existed before I was born. He also wrote "The Lunatic" which I need to find and re-read again as well. He is a white Jamaican who currently lives in Atlanta, GA.

This book "Going Home To Teach" recounts his experiences when he returned home to Jamaica to teach back in the 1970s. Those were tumultuous times for Jamaica, when Michael Manley was in power and socialism was the philosophy du jour. Many people left, while Winkler was coming back. The book has a lot of pathos, humour, and drama; but what really makes it impressive and relevant to me are the observations on Jamaican, American and English culture. Here are some samples. I don't necessarily agree with all his observations, but I think they are worth noting.

On being white in Jamaica, specifically referring to his American wife's experience:
"To be white in a black country with a long English colonial history is to be a pariah, an ambiguous entity. It is to be simultaneously respected and despised, to arouse suspicion and curiosity, to evoke defiance, rudeness, envy and condescension. It is to be separated from that inalienable birthright every white American enjoys in his own country; the expectation of being treated with indifference in a public place. When you are white in a black land like Jamaica, you are no longer merely a man, or a woman, or a child. For good or ill, you are also immediately transmogrified into a living symbol of a detested colonial past."

On Jamaican and American attitudes towards economic roles:
"The American nation is essentially a confederation of economic tribes known as businesses and corporations, each with its own totemic history, identity...when you work for an American corporation it defines you, moulds you...and eventually changes your values and perceptions...Americans are reared with the expectation that a large part of their personal identity will eventually be defined in adulthood by an economic role. One becomes what one does...Jamaicans DO their careers, their occupational pursuits; Americans BECOME them...This wedding of personality and occupation is a most peculiar trait for Jamaicans to comprehend mainly because they have inherited from their own cultural experience a deep-seated dislike for ready-made economic roles. Jamaicans revel in the expression of an idiosyncratic self, and reject any occupational role that brings with it blanket expectations of the self. Why this is so no doubt goes back to our experience with slavery when we waged and endless war of passive resistance against the slave master's desires and struggled hard to repudiate what he wanted us to become."

On "getting on bad"
"This expression has a peculiar meaning to the Jamaican, and no known equivalent in America. To `go on bad' is to employ the behaviour of the lower class in a sphere of life where it is outlandishly inappropriate. One cannot `go on bad' in a true democracy like America, but only in a society that separates people into classes by a strictly prescribed code of manners. Under the Englishman's colonial blueprint, the ragged brute in the streets is expected to rant and rave over grievances and raise his voice in profanity, but not the tuxedoed gentleman at a formal dinner. And should the gentleman so behave for whatever reason other than rare excusable drunkenness, he is said to have `gone on bad.' His sin is not so much bad behaviour as it is a degenerate hybridisation of manners-bringing the lower-class brute into the drawing room- and the penalty is social expulsion. He simply will never be invited back."
The unfortunate thing is that many times, getting on bad is the only way to get anything done! He notes this in the anecdote that follows this quote, which I won't replay here.

It's a great autobiographical novel told from a point of view that I haven't even considered too much; that of the person who is born in Jamaica and is just as Jamaican as I am, except that he is white. It is an accurate snapshot of Jamaica in the 1970s as well. Well, I assume that, since I wasn't born then :D At any rate, I highly recommend it. Also read the rest of his books: "The Lunatic" "The Painted Canoe" "The Great Yacht Race" and "The Duppy". I have read them all except for the last one, those I have read have been very good also.

If you live in the Caribbean you will be able to identify with all the occurrences. If you used to live in the Caribbean, this book will bring back all the memories. If you have no Caribbean connections, then you will be highly amused by the "peculiarites" of the natives as Mr. Winkler cleverly reveals the culture and personalities of the island

I was a schoolgirl in Jamaica, during the 70s, the period Mr. Winkler writes about and I can attest that all the things he says are true. The book is hilarious and poignant at the same time, capturing all the things that make Jamaica a difficult place to live in, yet an impossible one to stay away from. He captures the crazy drama of everyday life there, with humor and beauty and sadness. The scene in the patty shop when he asked by two people behind him in line to judge which is the blacker one, is one of the funniest things I've ever read.

Just seeing his name on the book spine was enough to make me pick up the book.

Over the years, Anthony C. Winkler's rollicking novels of Jamaican life have given me considerable pleasure and insight into Caribbean sensibility. He writes with a great affection for the island nation's people, reveling in their culture and contradictions, equally amused by and compassionate toward all the social strata. However, I'd been curious about the writer himself since first reading THE LUNATIC years ago, after a St. Kitts-born friend and mentor pressed the book into my hand with a smile, saying "You must read this!" The brief bio in his books mentioned he was a native Jamaican and scant else. Who was he? I wondered to myself about his background, his roots, his understanding of Jamaica.

GOING HOME TO TEACH answered my questions and delivered a lot more. At heart, it's Winkler's memoir of his mid-1970s stint, when Michael Manley's "democratic socialist" administration ruled, as an instructor at a government-sponsored rural teacher training school. His return is part altruism, part nostalgia: As the author of successful, widely used college textbooks, he's got tidy sums squirreled away in American banks, so he can afford to return home and work for a pittance. On the other hand, at the time he's thirty-something, divorced, and he's spent thirteen years away from home to study and teach in the U.S., whose society bewilders him.

The meat of the book, though, is both personal and general. Winkler is a raconteur, a griot--a natural born storyteller--and he regales you with stories about his family (particularly his eccentric grandparents and crazy aunts), his encounters with hidebound administrators and bureaucrats, striking students, madmen, and the impossibility of finding competent repairpersons. And then again, there are his observations on American society and culture, the contrasts with Jamaica, and the cultural idiosyncrasies that he attributes to the history of slavery and English colonial rule. GOING HOME TO TEACH is a dense stew of memorable people, incidents and conclusions, richly seasoned with rib-tickling anecdotes.

Indeed, what makes the book really work is Winkler's humor and humanity, his conversational tone, his equanimity whether describing the absurd or the nearly tragic. He's not shy about his foibles, his family's or his countrymen's, and completely droll even when revealing the unpleasant side of paradise. Be cautioned about reading this book in public: you risk indelicate stares for laughing out loud, as I did particularly as I was reading his account of "night life"--the panoply of insects and other critters--in the Jamaican countryside.

There's also the bittersweet. Winkler's ancestry is European and Middle Eastern--which adds up to "white"--but he's Jamaica-born and bred (patois is his "native tongue" much as any other Jamaican's), and that's the land he loves. It results in a certain "double consciousness," which I find ironically analogous to the lot of "Black Americans":

"To be white in a black country with a long English colonial history is to be a pariah, an ambiguous entity. It is to be simultaneously respected and despised, to arouse suspicion and curiosity, to evoke defiance, rudeness, envy, and condescension. It is to be separated from that inalienable birthright every white American enjoys in his country: the expectation of being treated with indifference in a public place....

"The hardest thing about growing up white in a black country is the nagging feeling of not belonging.... Jamaicans of all races who have lived abroad for any length of time also suffer it after returning home, but for the white Jamaican the feeling of not belonging is a cross he must bear even if he has never set foot out of his own country."

If you're already a fan of Winkler's writing, I believe you'll also love this book. If you're not already acquainted, this should be a fine introduction to the man and the land. A highly recommended, rewarding read.