“Coño, carajo, pendejo, you do not give up a run in a tie game in the fifth!”
“Listen, you hijo de puta! There would have been only one out and two men still on base.” Index fingers were jabbing with the precision of dangerous weapons. Overhead, a marble Martí was making the identical gesture. Veins were bulging, sweat was beading, one man was turning red. If someone who did not understand Spanish were watching, he would have thought this was a political argument that was about to turn violent. The Industriales had quickly gotten the third out, scored two runs in the sixth inning, and won the game, but that wasn’t the point. It was an argument about strategy. Later, everyone would drink small cups of dark coffee together.
That’s just Havana—a city “apasionado y febril como el amor de una mujer fea” (as passionate and delirious as an ugly woman’s love), as Dulce María Loynaz, one of Havana’s best-loved women writers, once rudely described it. Ever since the Spanish started founding their various Havanas, change has been a part of the city’s history, and it seems certain that Havana will face enormous changes, perhaps some of them very soon. But the things that make Havana Havana, the delirious, crumbling metropolis of black and white despite its faded tropical colors, seem certain to endure.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My first thank-you goes to the people of Havana who for almost thirty-five years showed me nothing but warmth, humor, and hospitality while my country was trying to starve them.
A long overdue thank-you to David Brown who I accompanied on research and who gave me a wealth of understanding about Afro-Cuban religions.
Thanks to my agent and friend, Charlotte Sheedy, and to George Gibson, one of the great publishers, and Nancy Miller, one of the great editors, who brought me this project. How fortunate I am to be working with such people.
Thanks to Marian Mass and Talia for their love and support, not to mention picture research.
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Antolitia, Gloria. Cuba: Dos Siglos de Musica. Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1984.
Barclay, Juliet. Havana: Portrait of a City. London: Cassell, 1995.
Bjarkman, Peter C. Baseball with a Latin Beat. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1994.
——. A History of Cuban Baseball 1864–2006. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007.
Brown, David H. Santería Enthroned: Art, Ritual, and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Carter, Thomas F. The Quality of Home Runs. Durham, NC, and London: Duke University Press, 2008.
Chomsky, Aviva, Barry Carr, and Pamela Maria Smorkaloff, eds. The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Durham, NC, and London: Duke University Press, 2003.
Cluster, Dick, and Rafael Hernández. The History of Havana. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
Cooke, Julia. The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press, 2014.
Díaz Ayala, Cristóbal. Musica Cubana del Areyto a la Nueva Trova. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Editorial Cubanacan, 1981.
Duharte Jiménez, Rafael. El Negro en la Sociedad Colonial. Santiago: Editorial Oriente, 1988.
Eire, Carlos. Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy. New York: Free Press, 2003.
Estrada, Alfredo José. Havana: Autobiography of a City. New York and London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007.
García, Alicia, and Sergio. El Aljibe: Un Estilo Natural. Havana: Editorial SI-Mar, 2004.
González Echevarría, Roberto. The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
González-Wippler, Migene. Santería: The Religion. New York: Harmony, 1989.
Griffith, Cathryn. Havana Revisited: An Architectural Heritage. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010.
Hazard, Samuel. Cuba with Pen and Pencil. Hartford, CT: Hartford Publishing, 1871.
Hill, Robert T. Cuba and Porto Rico: With the Other Islands of the West Indies. New York: Century Company, 1899.
Humboldt, Alexander von. The Island of Cuba. New York: Derby and Jackson, 1856.
Jenkins, Gareth. Havana in My Heart: 75 Years of Cuban Photography. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2002.
Klein, Herbert S. Slavery in the Americas: A Comparative Study of Virginia and Cuba. Chicago: Elephant Paperbacks, 1967.
Kurlansky, Mark. A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1992.
——. “Cuba Moves to Clean Up Havana Harbor,” Chicago Tribune. February 23, 1986.
——. “Cuba, Si.” Mirabella, January 1991.
——. “Field of Dreams.” Gourmet. May 2003.
——. “Havana Homecoming.” Food & Wine. November 2012.
——.“Havana’s Historic Watering Holes.” International Herald Tribune. 1985.
——. “In Cuba, 800 Jews without Rabbi, without Harassment.” Philadelphia Inquirer. June 2, 1985.
——. “Man without a Country.” Progressive. January 1986.
——. “No Escape from Cuba Haven for U.S. Fugitive.” Guardian. July 8, 1985.
——. “The Big Squawk.” New Times. August 23–29, 1989.
Llanes, Llilian. Havana: Then and Now. San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2004.
——. The Houses of Old Cuba. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2001.
Leal Spengler, Eusebio. Para No Olvidar: Libro Premero. Havana: Ediciones Boloña, 1999.
Lobo Montalvo, María Luisa. Havana: History and Architecture of a Romantic City. New York: Monacelli Press, 2009.
Martinez-Alier, Varena. Marriage, Class and Colour in Nineteenth-Century Cuba: A Study of Racial Attitudes and Sexual Values in a Slave Society. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989.
Miller, Tom. Trading with the Enemy: A Yankee Travels through Castro’s Cuba. New York: Atheneum, 1992.
Moreno Fraginals, Manuel, ed. Africa in Latin America: Essays on History, Culture and Socialization. New York and Paris: Holmes & Meier, 1984.
——. El Ingenio, 3 vols. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1978.
Moruzzi, Peter. Havana: Before Castro When Cuba Was a Tropical Playground. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2008.
Ortiz, Fernando. Los Bailes y El Teatro de los Negros en el Folklore de Cuba. Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1985.
——. Contrapunteo Cubano del Tabaco y el Azucar. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1983.
——. El Engaño de las Razas. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1975.
——. Entre Cubanos: Psicología Tropical. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1987.
——. El Huracán: Su Mitología y Sus Símbolos. Mexico City: Fondo de la Cultura Económica, 1984.
——. Los Negros Curros. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1986.
——. Los Negros Esclavos. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1987.
Pérez Jr., Louis A. On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality & Culture. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.
Rampersad, Arnold, and David Roessel, with Christa Fratantoro, eds. Selected Letters of Langston Hughes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2015.
Roberts, W. Adolphe. The Portrait of a City. New York: Coward-McCann, 1953.
Ryan, Alan, ed. The Reader’s Companion to Cuba. San Diego and New York: Harcourt Brace, 1997.
Salas y Quiroga, José Jacinto. Viajes. Havana: Editorial del Consejo Nacional de Cultura, 1964.
Scarpaci, Joseph L., Roberto Segre, and Mario Coyula. Havana: Two Faces of the Antillean Metropolis. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Tattlin, Isadora. Cuba Diaries: An American Housewife in Havana. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin, 2002.
Terry, T. Philip. Terry’s Guide to Cuba. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1927.
Thomas, Hugh. Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.
——. The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440–1870. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.
White, Trumbull. Our New Possessions. 1898.
&nbs
p; Williams, Eric. From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean, 1492–1969. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.
Zanetti, Oscar, and Alejandro García. Sugar and Railroads: A Cuban History, 1837–1959. Translated by Franklin W. Knight and Mary Todd. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HABANERA LITERATURE
Arenas, Reinaldo. Before Night Falls. Translated by Dolores M. Koch. New York: Viking, 1992.
——. Farewell to the Sea. Translated by Andrew Hurley. New York: Viking, 1986.
Augier, Ángel. Poesía de la Ciudad de La Habana. Havana: Ediciones Boloña, 2001.
Benítez Rojo, Antonio. A View from the Mangrove. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998.
——. Mujer en Traje de Batalla. Madrid: Grupo Santillana de Ediciones, 2001.
——. The Repeating Island: The Caribbean and the Postmodern Perspective. Translated by James Maraniss. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996.
Bosch, Juan. Cuba, La Isla Fascinante. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universitaria, 1955.
——. De Cristóbal Colón a Fidel Castro: El Caribe Frontera Imperial. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Cuarto Edición Dominicano, 1883.
Bush, Peter, ed. The Voice of the Turtle: An Anthology of Cuban Stories. New York: Grove Press, 1997.
Cabrera Infante, Guillermo. Mea Cuba. Translated by Kenneth Hall. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994.
——. Three Trapped Tigers. New York: Avon, 1985.
Cabrera, Lydia. Afro-Cuban Tales. Translated by Alberto Kernández-Chiroldes and Lauren Yoder. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.
Carpentier, Alejo. La Ciudad de las Columnas. Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1982. First published 1970.
——. Guerra del Tiempo y Otros Relatos. Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1987.
——. The Harp and the Shadow. Translated by Thomas and Carol Christensen. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1990.
——. Music in Cuba. Translated by Alan West-Durán. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001.
——. Reasons of State. Translated by Frances Partridge. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.
——. The Chase. Translated by Alfred MacAdam. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989.
Desnoes, Edmundo. Inconsolable Memories: A Novel of Cuba Today. London: Andre Deutsch, 1968. Originally published as Memorias del Subdesarrollo (Havana: Ediciones Union, 1965).
Diego, Eliseo. En Sitio en Que Tan Bien Se Está. Havana: Ediciones Boloña, 2005.
Estévez, Abilio. Inventario Secreto de La Habana. Barcelona: Tusquets Editores, 2005.
——. Distant Palaces. Translated by David Frye. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2002. Originally published as Los Palacios Distantes (Barcelona: Tusquets Editores, 2002).
García, Cristina, ed. Cubanísimo! The Vintage Book of Contemporary Cuban Literature. New York: Vintage Books, 2002.
Greene, Graham. Our Man in Havana. New York: Viking Press, 1958.
——. Ways of Escape: An Autobiography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980.
Guillén, Nicolás. Cuba Libre: Poems by Nicolás Guillén. Translated by Langston Hughes and Ben Frederic Carruthers. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1948.
——. The Daily Daily. Translated by Vera M. Kutzinski. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
——. Guillén: Man-Making Words. Translated by Robert Márquez and Arthur McMurray. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1972.
——. Obra Poética. Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1985.
Gutiérrez, Pedro Juan. Dirty Havana Trilogy: A Novel in Stories. Translated by Natasha Wimmer. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
——. “Era un Hombre Decente.” La Gaceta de Cuba. July–August 2014.
Iyer, Pico. Cuba and the Night. New York: Vintage, 1996.
Lezama Lima, José. Paradiso. Translated by Gregory Rabassa. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988.
——. Poesía Completa. Havana: Instituto del Libro, 1970.
——. Selections. Edited by Ernesto Livan-Grossman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.
Loynaz, Dulce María. Against Heaven: Selected Poems: A Dual Language Edition. Translated by James O’Connor. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 2007.
Martí, José. The America of José Martí. Translated by Juan de Onis. New York: Noonday Press, 1953.
——. Diarios. Barcelona: Circulo de Lectores, 1997.
——. Major Poems. Translated by Elinor Randall. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1982.
——. Periodismo Diverso. Vol. 23 of Obras Completas. Havana: Editorial Nacional de Cuba, 1965.
——. Poesia Completa. Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1985.
——. Selected Writings. Translated by Esther Allen. New York: Penguin Classics, 2002.
Méndez Capote, Renée. Memorias de una Cubanita Que Nacío con el Siglo. Barcelona: Argos Vergara, 1984.
Padilla, Heberto. A Fountain, a House of Stone: Poems. Bilingual edition. Translated by Alastair Reid and Alexander Coleman. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1991.
——. Heroes Are Grazing in My Garden. Translated by Andrew Hurley. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1984.
——. Self-Portrait of the Other: A Memoir. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1990.
Padura Fuentes, Leonardo. Adíos Hemingway. Translated by John King. Edinburgh, UK: Canongate, 2005.
——. Havana Black. Translated by Peter Bush. London: Bitter Lemon Press, 2006. Originally published as Paisaje de Otoño (Barcelona: Tusquets Editores, 1998).
——. Havana Blue. Translated by Peter Bush. London: Bitter Lemon Press, 2006. Originally published as Pasado Perfecto (Barcelona: Tusquets Editores, 2000).
——. Havana Gold. Translated by Peter Bush. London: Bitter Lemon Press, 2008. Originally published as Vientos de Cuaresma (Barcelona: Tusquets Editores, 2001).
——. Havana Red. Translated by Peter Bush. London: Bitter Lemon Press, 2005. Originally published as Máscaras (Barcelona: Tusquets Editores, 1997).
Piñera, Virgilio. René’s Flesh. Translated by Mark Schafer. Boston: Eridanos Press, 1989.
Pérez, Armando Cristóbal. Explosión en Tallapiedra. Havana: Editorial Capitán San Luis, 2014.
Rosales, Guillermo. The Halfway House. Translated by Anna Kushner. New York: New Directions, 2009.
——. Leapfrog & Other Stories. Translated by Anna Kushner. New York: New Directions, 2013. Leapfrog originally published as El Juego de La Viola (Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1994).
Rosshandler, Felicia. Passing through Havana: A Novel of Wartime Girlhood in the Caribbean. New York: St. Martin’s, 1984.
Sarduy, Severo. Cobra. Translated by Suzanne Jill Levine. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1975.
Smorkaloff, Pamela Maria. Cuban Writers on and off the Island. New York: Twayne, 1999.
Villaverde, Cirilo. Cecilia Valdés. Translated by Helen Lane. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Originally published in Spanish in New York in 1882. Edition referred to here (Mexico City: Editorial Porrúa, 1995).
Yañez, Mirta, ed. Cubana: Contemporary Fiction by Cuban Women. Translated by Dick Cluster and Cindy Schuster. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.
——. Havana Is a Really Big City and Other Short Stories. Edited by Sara E. Cooper. Chico, CA: Cubanabooks, 2010.
——. The Bleeding Wound/Sangra por la Herida. Bilingual edition. Translated by Sara E. Cooper. Chico, CA: Cubanabooks, 2014.
INDEX
NOTE: Page numbers in italics indicate an illustration or photograph
Abeal y Otero, José “Sloppy Joe,” here
Abekuá, here
El Acoso (The Chase) (Carpentier), here, here
Adiós Hemingway (Padura), here
African culture
and Cuban religions, here
music, here
preservation of, here
rejection of, here, here
Society of Afro-Cuban Studies, here
son, here, her
e, here
African ethnicities in Cubans, here, here
African slaves and slavery, here, here
airport, international, in Havana, here
ajiaco recipe, here
Alea, Tomás Gutiérrez, here
Alfonso Rosales, Ada Rosa, here
Algren, Nelson, here
El Aljibe, Miramar, here
Almendares River, here
Americans, here, here. See also United States
Andalusia, Spain, here
Andalusian architects, here
Andreu, Olga, here
Antonio, Luisa V., here
Aponte, José Antonio, here
Arará religion, here
architects from Andalusia, Spain, here
Arenas, Reinaldo, here, here, here, here
Arnaz, Desi, here
Atabey, organic farm in, here
Atlantic Ocean, here, here. See also Habana Vieja
automobiles, here, here, here
Azoy, Alberto, here
Azpiazú, Don, here
babalawos (priests), here
Babalú Ayé, here, here
“Babalú” (song), here
“Backstage at the Tropicana” (Steber), here
Baker, Josephine, here
balconies, here
barracoons, here, here
Barrio Chino, here
baseball and baseball players, here, here, here, here, here
Batabonó, here
Batista, Fulgencio
brutality of, here
building projects, here, here
The Chase set, here, here
and organized crime, here
Taino blood in, here
U.S. support for, here
Bauzá, Mario, here
bay. See Habana Vieja
“La Bayamesa” (“The Hymn of Bayamo”) (Figueredo), here
Bay of Pigs invasion, here
Before Night Falls (Arenas), here
Bellán, Esteban, here
Benítez Rojo, Antonio, here, here
bicycles and bicycle carts, here
black-and-white images
(film noir)
Alea’s Memories of Underdevelopment, here
attraction of, here
Carpentier’s The Chase as, here
Evans’s photographs as, here
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