Travelers' Tales Cuba: True Stories (Paperback)

by Tom Miller (Editor) "HIS PARENTS HAD FLED TO THE NORTH..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, New York, Fidel Castro (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In Travelers' Tales Cuba: True Stories, editor Tom Miller (Trading with the Enemy) has gathered 38 essays by Western ex-pats, Cuban exiles and travelers of all stripes, including Cristina García, Pico Iyer, James Michener, Andrei Codrescu and Robert Stone. Novelist Elisio Alberto recollects his 1970s stint at the magazine Cuba Internacional, "a real Gothic cave where chance had gathered together twelve or thirteen madmen who were not afraid of anybody or anything, not even of daydreaming, perhaps the bravest thing of all in this most extraordinary world designed by God or the Devil." From his rental car, Dave Eggars comes to understand something of Cubans' reality: "That becomes the point it had not been the plan at the outset but now is the mission, one thrust upon us the picking up of people, because, as we learn soon enough, the most common roadside scenery in Cuba, besides the horse-drawn wagons and broken-down classic American cars, is its hitchhikers."

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Since it is illegal for U.S. citizens to vacation in Cuba (you need to have a journalistic, cultural, or educational purpose), for many this new book in the popular "Travelers' Tales" series may just be the next best thing. Sit back and enjoy the true tales of old Havana, of vivacious women in Spandex and the sultry men who appreciate them. Then bike across the island from east to west, trek the sites where the revolution began, tour the Isle of Youth (formally a prison center), or relax along the beaches of the north coast. In this 38-essay volume, whose contributors include such noted writers as Pico Iyer, James Michener, and Christina Garcia, the good times are skillfully balanced with the bad. Editor Miller, the author of the acclaimed Trading with the Enemy: A Yankee Travels Through Castro's Cuba, has intermingled here the essays on Cuba's rich cultural heritage with those dealing with its complex and still turbulent political system. The only complaint is that at times it seems as if the endings to these fascinating stories come too soon. Recommended for all public and academic libraries. Lee Arnold, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Travelers' Tales Guides (June 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885211627
• ISBN-13: 978-1885211620
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,368,526 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a stupid review!, August 28, 2005

By	M. E. A. Somerville "Mea" (Md) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

That was stupid... clearly that woman didnt read the book all the way through. It is an amazing book with wonderful stories about the daily life of living in Cuba. This book tells it like it is... Cuba is a beautiful place that is stuck in a 1950's time zone... wondeful details... to the reviewer before me... re-read it again when you are not PMSing and perhaps you'll feel different.
Great book... 5 *

8 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Testosterone-Heavy, July 3, 2004

By A Customer

Of the 35 stories presented in this book, 29 are penned by male writers, leaving female readers choking on moped fumes as these stories are an endless re-telling of Cuban car & motorcycle mechanics in excrutiating detail. Broken up only by tales of fishing, baseball & (mostly married) men titillated by $20 Cuban hookers or smitten by young Cuban senorita stereotypes, this book reads like a slow walk through a pool hall filled with pot-bellied, balding men puffing on cigars & slapping each other on the back as they pump out tall tales about all the fish (& women) they've caught. Cuba as the setting is only incidental.