Six Days in Havana [Hardcover]

James A. Michener (Author), John Kings (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1989

When James Michener visited Havana with his associate John Kings, he was only researching Cuba for a new novel on the Caribbean, but he found much more to excite his interest. Michener's insightful text and Kings's evocative photographs record their impressions of Havana thirty years after the Revolution.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

While researching his latest novel, Michener stopped in Havana and what he found there struck him so that he wrote this separate volume about it. The meat of the book was gleaned from interviews with close to 200 Cubans of widely assorted backgrounds and positions, and concerns how the country has progressed after 90 years of independence from Spain and under the 30-year leadership of Castro. Kings's many photographs are a fine complement to the text. Bound to be in demand by Michener's numerous fans. Literary Guild alternate; Doubleday Book Club selection.-- MR
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press; 1 edition (1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292776292
• ISBN-13: 978-0292776296
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,020,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good...., May 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Six Days in Havana (Hardcover)

"Six Days in Havana" is Michener's companion volume to the novel "Caribbean." Though the narrative is rather short, Michener's tradition of never failing to please holds up here, and the brevity is more than made up for by John Kings' absolutely fantastic color photos of Cuba. This volume serves both as a behind-the-scenes tour of the Cuban chapters of "Caribbean" and as the closest tour of Cuba an American is likely to get anytime soon. Perfect for the almost-complete Michener collection. (Also features a short section by Kings.)

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Six Days are not enough, April 17, 2001

By 

Jerry W. Scott "JerryScottArtist" (Annandale, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Six Days in Havana (Hardcover)

I will admit right off that I am biased because, as Public Affairs Officer in the U.S. Interests Section, I hosted James Michener's stay in Havana while he collected data for "Caribbean" and later collaborated with John Kings on the photography used in the book. Despite his glowing praise for my services (page 27), Michener was an old hand at adapting to circumstances and hardly needed me to orient him. He arrived with a fixed agenda and stuck with it. We departed from the agenda from time to time as his curiosity grew and Cuban contacts of mine beguiled him. As for his impressions, they are lucid, provocative, insightful and of course superficial. To know Cuba requires years of delving into the psychology of the quixotic Cuban people and their turbulent history. Michener's kitchen Spanish was adequate in restaurants but hardly up to a good conversation. I wondered how his early masterpiece "Iberia" could be so complete without a solid knowledge of Spanish? Anyway, he asked me to take 1000 photos of Havana which I did happily under the watchful eyes of Cuban security forces. His editors selected 70 or so of mine and 12 of Kings for inclusion. (No reference to my photopgraphy is given in the book by my own request as a diplomat shouldn't be caught moonlighting for the presses). I believe Michener used them for references to his quick glimps into Cuban society. His light comments tell the tale of a tourist abroad who is infected with the aura of Cuban life under the tyrant...,excuse me "comandante en jefe" Castro. Not a bad read for someone who likes their rum with coke--better known as a Cuba Libre. Viva Michener! Comments to [e-mail]