Cuba Then, Cuba Now
- 14 Mar 2019
- 9781786897626
- £1.99
- 92 pp
In a few words
A highly topical and accessible exploration of the Caribbean Islands, their history and peoples
Praise for Island People:
A heartfelt Caribbean journey . . . through the places, literature and music of the region to beautifully illuminate the histories of people and continents . . . Terrific
Delves into the brutal history and unique allure of the Caribbean . . . Island People, written by a careful and compassionate author, is a worthy travel and history book, a fresh study
More about
the book
From the moment Columbus gazed out from his Santa Maria and hailed ‘the most beautiful land human eyes have seen’, Cuba has been a magnet for fantasies – and for historic drama. In recent years, Fidel Castro’s longtime communist feif has been roiled by new momentous shifts – Castro’s death; détente with the United States; the ascent of a new leader in Havana. Now comes an essential and timely portrait of Cuba from one of the island’s leading chroniclers.
Cuba Then, Cuba Now offers selected chapters from Island People, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro’s magnum opus on the history and cultures of the Caribbean; they come with a new introduction and conclusion, drawn from his reporting from Cuba for The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books, to bring the story up to date. It is essential reading for anyone planning to visit Cuba, or dreaming of doing so.
Praise for Island People:
A travelogue of love and scholarship . . . does the region splendid justice
A pleasingly broad study of the Caribbean and its vital, indecipherable blend of peoples
Allows the Caribbean to stand on its own and shine . . . A celebration of culture, music and literature . . . shows the magic of the people of the Caribbean . . . infused with passion, love and vibrancy
Sharmaine Lovegrove
Monocle Arts ReviewA creative hybrid of travel writing and in-depth reportage . . . Its balance of skepticism and enthusiasm is driven by both wide knowledge and a bracing sympathy for the oppressed . . . He has a journalist's flair for interviews and is as deft with chance encounters as with pop idols. Above all he finds dignity as well as excitement in this beautiful archipelago
Colin Thubron
New York Review of Books
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
View profileJoshua Jelly-Schapiro is a geographer and writer whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, New Yorker, Harper’s, the Believer, Artforum, and the Nation, among many other publications. Educated at Yale and Berkeley, he is the co-editor, with Rebecca Solnit, of Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas, and a visiting scholar at New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge.
