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As someone who was born in Cuba in early 1940s and lived under Castro until 1964 I'm thoroughly enjoying this book - learning things I either had forgotten or never knew - it's bringing back very fond memories of the Cuba I grew up in.
Greatly enjoyed the many, many photos, some of places I was too young to have visited as a child, before I left Cuba. Thank you for a wonderful trip down memory lane.
Any library strong in Cuban history and culture must have this. Color and vintage black and white photos abound in HAVANA BEFORE CASTRO: WHEN CUBA WAS A TROPICAL PLAYGROUND. It re-creates an era when the city was a popular destination for Americans between World War I and Castro's revolution, packing over 500 color and black and white images into a 'then and now' recreation contrasting past and present.
With regards to the writer "formoso" , he believes all the comunist propaganda written by the so called revolution. This city is now converted into a total ruin. I imagine he believes that today's cuba is a paradise where everybody lives better.how come all cubans want to leave that paradise. This is a wonderful book that describes Havana in the same way that my parents have always told me they remember. I lived in Cuba until the age of thirteen and in many parts of Havana i could see remains of what once was a grandiose city.
Drugs, alcohol, and even child prostitution/trafficking prospered while the average citizen (the you's and me's of society) lived in poverty under a system that kept them as ignorant cogs in the wheel of greed. Need we all remember that the Cuban Revolution was supported by the people because the people were fed up by those who came before Castro. Without doubt, this book is a hit with the Miami Cuban Mafia.
A land where education, health care, clothing, and even your next meal was out of reach. This book should be retitled to "Cuba Before Morals". A land where people lived as peasants in shacks; not because of an embargo but because of government sponsored poverty.
"Havana Before Castro" is the typical un-balanced poorly written account of Cuba before Castro. It was, a land of plenty poverty and plenty crime. It is a wonderful collection of pictures and nothing more.
The real Cuba before Castro, was an island built by the rich and corrupt for the enjoyment of the rich and corrupt. Cubans have a misplaced tendency to think that Cuba before Castro was a wonderland; a land of plenty.
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