Matanzas: The Cuba Nobody Knows [Hardcover]

Miguel A. Bretos (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A fine document of Cuban culture, a history and memoir of a charming and oft-neglected city, infused with an emigre's love and longing for the lost place." - Dick Cluster, author of History of Havana"

Product Description

Matanzas - the name means literally 'slaughters' - is the Cuban city nearest the United States. Known at the heyday of the nineteenth-century sugar boom as the 'Athens of Cuba', it is renowned for its art, its music, and its rich African heritage. It is also the place where Latin American baseball began. Yet most Americans have never heard of it. Miguel Bretos' fascinating history of his hometown remedies this oversight. Though he came to the United States as a Pedro Pan child and has lived all over the world, his family is still closely tied to the city where they lived for generations. After forty years he returned to his homeland 'with the longing of an exile, the anticipation of a child, the curiosity of a visitor, the resentment of a victim, and - hopefully - the objectivity of a scholar'. Bretos unfolds the Matanzas story from the aboriginal Tainos to the coming of revolution with solid research, wit, clarity, and the kind of vivid detail that can come only from an insider. But he also deftly inserts Matanzas into a larger picture. More than local history, this original work is Cuban history from a local perspective.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Florida (March 21, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813034329
• ISBN-13: 978-0813034324
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #443,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

  #90 in	Books > History > Americas > Caribbean & West Indies > Cuba
  #40 in	Books > Travel > Caribbean > Cuba

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent work of Cuban history with a personal touch, April 8, 2010

By	Veronique Koch - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Matanzas: The Cuba Nobody Knows (Hardcover)

Bretos blends remarkable historical detail with personal anecdotes about what is it to be from Matanzas. Easy to read chapters cover Cuban history from a matancero perspective from Cuba's discovery until the present. In the end one is left with a wonderful panorama of a city that more often than not found its way in the middle of wars, slave uprisings and other important events.

Excellent clarity and depth from the author. Would have been nice to hear more about Bretos' experience leaving Cuba or about his time as a boy in Matanzas. Otherwise, a must read for Cuban history buffs.