Caribbean Books

I spent the summer in Puerto Rico, and I don't know what I would have done without this book. Asking for directions is hard, because locals usually refer to landmarks - even ones that don't exist anymore (go to the old IBM building, etc). With this book, I just looked up the street name in the back index, and then found the map page and figured out the directions myself. I recommend this book to anyone living or visiting San Juan!

Originally from Cuba, Josefa Gonzalez-Hastings is the head chef and owner of the Haban Cafe in Gulfport, Florida. In The Habana Cafe Cookbook, Josefa draws upon her years of experience and award-winning expertise to present a culinary compendium of "nuevo Latin cuisine" combined with traditional recipes handed down through her family from her mother and aunts. This showcase of Cuban recipes ranges from Frituras de Bacalao (Codfish Fritters); Bolliche a La Naranjada (Pot Roast with Orange Sauce); and Rabo Encendido (Oxtail Stew); to Platanos en Tentacion (Baked Sweet Plantains); Habana Tropical Punch; and Manzanas Rellenas En Almendras (Stuffed Apples with Almonds). Enhanced with family stories, advice on Cuban food and preparations, and an impressive insert of color photography, The Habana Cafe Cookbook is a welcome and recommended addition to any and all kitchen cookbook collections!

The haiku herein are really fun to read aloud. The parallel English translations are an excellent source for leaning more of the Papiamentu language. Even if more Papiamentu literature becomes widely available in the future, this little book will remain a gem. My recommendation is that any independent learner or classroom teacher of the Papiamentu language buy and use this wonderful tool.

"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!

This wonderfully researched book will be pleasing and enlightening to people who may have two completely differing reading interests. Any Mafia aficionado or student of the history of Cuba, ranging from Governmental corruption to the revolution will be equally mesmerized. The author deftly fits the two stories, which at times precede each other... and at other times post date each other... and of course at times overlap each other... together like a well thought out jigsaw puzzle.

In the eleven years following World War II "direct U.S. business investments in Cuba grew from $142 million to $952 million." (In today's dollars that would be 5-10 times more.) The extent of American interest in Cuba, an island the size of the state of Tennessee, ranked in third place among the nations of the world receiving U.S. investments." The Havana mob which was comprised of American Mafia and their associates, included such historical underworld figures as Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Santo Trafficante, Albert Anastasia, and others. The author skillfully takes you back to Lucky and Meyer's childhood where they grew up together and forged a lifetime friendship and business relationship that eventually led to Meyer Lansky a Jew to be the actual de-facto leader of the mob's dream expansion into Cuba. In case the potential reader isn't aware of the fact; no person can become an official "made-man" unless he's one-hundred-percent Italian. The reader is adroitly taken back through Meyer's entire life, from his growing up tough, despite never rising past 5-feet-4-inches in height as an adult. His absolute love of gambling... but not needing to gamble... is what eventually made him the Mafia's architect in Las Vegas and Cuba. Meyer's idol as a young man was Arnold Rothstein, who was famous within mob circles for a number of things, but perhaps his biggest claim to fame was that; "HE WAS THE MAN WHO FIXED THE 1919 WORLD SERIES!" "From the beginning, Lansky understood that games of chance hit some men where they could not breathe. Gambling pulls at the core of a man, he once famously uttered. Most of his life would be spent profiting from the truth of this maxim". Along with Luciano, Ben "Bugsy" Siegel, was one of Lansky's best friend's since their teenage years, yet history credits (or fingers) Meyer for ordering the hit on Bugsy that entailed so many gunshots, that his "intact" eyeball was later found fourteen- feet away from his body. This murder, that was made famous in the Warren Beatty movie in later years, was ordered with the belief that Bugsy was "skimming" money from his mob brethren while overseeing the building of the Flamingo Hotel in Vegas.

Assisting and making possible the mob's dream of a gaming and hotel jackpot in Cuba was Major General and later President Fulgencio Batista. Cuban corruption was not only rampant... and expected... but was part of Lansky's plan and budget. Once again the author brilliantly details the payoffs as well as the dishonest banks and businesses. The reader will also be educated on Fidel Castro's life from being a child of a well off family, to law student, to revolutionary leader. Included is his historically famous "HISTORY WILL ABSOLVE ME" speech.

Intermixed with the gambling and Cuban government are riveting scenes of Frank Sinatra transporting millions of dollars in a suitcase from America to Cuba, acting as no more than a "bagman" for his pal Lucky Luciano. You'll feel like a fly on the wall as Sinatra and Lucky are involved in a wild orgy, which is interrupted, when security in the hotel mistakenly lets a nun and some girl scouts in to the room where the orgy is being held. You'll learn about Senator John F. Kennedy's orgy during a trip to Cuba in December 1957, paid for in full by a Mafia boss.

The legendary "MURDER INCORPORATED" is dissected including the story of Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, "who was a "canary" who "sang like a bird". Before he was done singing "he had given details on some two-hundred murders, he had personally participated in or had intimate knowledge of, leading to forty-nine prosecutions. Several top killers went to the electric chair, including the murderous Louis Lepke."

In 1941 "Kid Twist" "was still giving information and building cases for the Brooklyn D.A.'s office. "Next in line to be prosecuted was Albert Anastasia. The D.A.'s office announced that they were on the cusp of "the perfect case" against the feared BOSS of Murder Inc. The most prized informer in the history of organized crime was being held in a room at the Half Moon Hotel, on the boardwalk in Coney Island. He was guarded round the clock by a contingent of six cops, proud members of New York's finest. Somehow, "Kid Twist" took the plunge. The cops said they didn't know how it happened. They were dozing off when "Kid Twist" tried to escape and "fell" six stories to his death. Or maybe he tried to commit suicide. Forever after, some in the press and public believed that cops had been paid off and were part of the hit. "Kid Twist's" demise led to one of the more famous epitaphs in mob history:"

******* "HE COULD SING BUT HE COULDN'T FLY!" *******
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Crime novels abound. There's no question that we enjoy reading fiction and non-fiction about the gangster element. This is one historical presentation that is certain to please readers.

Unlike other books that often rehash well-known facts about criminals and their actions, Havana Nocturne is an entertaining review of the historical activities of the Mob in Cuba from the mid-1940s until the Castro revolution takeover in 1959. History has often avoided or ignored the Mafia's involvement in Cuba, forgetting that many of the activities there superceded or coincided with the development of Las Vegas.

Rather than a presentation of repetitive facts, however, this book does an excellent job of condensing the political events of the time while also explaining the decades-old Mob interest in Cuba.

Readers will find the story reading like a fantasy as they discover interesting facts surrounding the activities of Frank Sinatra, John F. Kennedy and the bawdy nightlife of the Caribbean.

For those interested in understanding why the US has avoided involvement in Cuba for 50 years, how Batista ruled Cuba and Castro took control, and how the Mafia nearly rose to power internationally, I strongly recommend this book.

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.