Capitalism, God, and a Good Cigar

Capitalism, God, and a Good Cigar
Author: Lydia Chavez
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2005-05-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0822386488

When the Soviet Union dissolved, so did the easy credit, cheap oil, and subsidies it had provided to Cuba. The bottom fell out of the Cuban economy, and many expected that Castro’s revolution—the one that had inspired the Left throughout Latin America and elsewhere—would soon be gone as well. More than a decade later, the revolution lives on, albeit in a modified form. Following the collapse of Soviet communism, Castro legalized the dollar, opened the island to tourism, and allowed foreign investment, small-scale private enterprise, and remittances from exiles in Miami. Capitalism, God, and a Good Cigar describes what the changes implemented since the early 1990s have meant for ordinary Cubans: hotel workers, teachers, priests, factory workers, rap artists, writers, homemakers, and others. Based on reporting by journalists, writers, and documentary filmmakers since 2001, each of the essays collected here covers a particular dimension of contemporary Cuban society, revealing what it is like to have lived, for more than a decade, suspended between communism and capitalism. There are pieces on hip hop musicians, fiction writing and censorship, the state of ballet and the performing arts, and the role of computers and the Internet. Other essays address the shrinking yet still sizeable numbers of true believers in the promise of socialist revolution, the legendary cigar industry, the changing state of religion, the significance of the recent influx of money and people from Spain, and the tensions between recent Cuban emigrants and previous generations of exiles. Including more than seventy striking documentary photographs of Cuba’s people, countryside, and city streets, this richly illustrated collection offers keen, even-handed insights into the abundant ironies of life in Cuba today. Contributors. Juliana Barbassa, Ana Campoy, Mimi Chakarova, Lydia Chávez, John Coté, Julian Foley, Angel González, Megan Lardner, Ezequiel Minaya, Daniela Mohor, Archana Pyati, Alicia Roca, Olga R. Rodríguez, Bret Sigler, Annelise Wunderlich

On the Move

On the Move
Author: Alejandra Bronfman
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
Total Pages: 155
Release: 2013-04-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1848137451

The Caribbean stands out in the popular imagination as a 'place without history', a place which has somehow eluded modernity. Haiti is envisioned as being trapped in an endless cycle of violence and instability, Cuba as a 1950s time warp, Jamaicans as ganja-smoking Rastafarians, while numerous pristine, anonymous islands are simply peaceful idylls. The notion of 'getting away from it all' lures countless visitors, offering the possibility of total disconnect for the world-weary. In On the Move Alejandra Bronfman argues that in fact the opposite is true; the Caribbean is, and has always been, deeply engaged with the wider world. From drugs and tourism to international political struggles, these islands form an integral part of world history and of the present, and are themselves in a constant state of economic and social flux in the face of global transformations.

Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know

Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know
Author: Julia E Sweig
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2009-06-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 019974081X

Ever since Fidel Castro assumed power in Cuba in 1959, Americans have obsessed about the nation ninety miles south of the Florida Keys. America's fixation on the tropical socialist republic has only grown over the years, fueled in part by successive waves of Cuban immigration and Castro's larger-than-life persona. Cubans are now a major ethnic group in Florida, and the exile community is so powerful that every American president has kowtowed to it. But what do most Americans really know about Cuba itself? In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia Sweig, one of America's leading experts on Cuba and Latin America, presents a concise and remarkably accessible portrait of the small island nation's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years. Yet it is authoritative as well. Following a scene-setting introduction that describes the dynamics unleashed since summer 2006 when Fidel Castro transferred provisional power to his brother Raul, the book looks backward toward Cuba's history since the Spanish American War before shifting to more recent times. Focusing equally on Cuba's role in world affairs and its own social and political transformations, Sweig divides the book chronologically into the pre-Fidel era, the period between the 1959 revolution and the fall of the Soviet Union, the post-Cold War era, and-finally-the looming post-Fidel era. Informative, pithy, and lucidly written, it will serve as the best compact reference on Cuba's internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.

The Blogging Revolution

The Blogging Revolution
Author: Antony Loewenstein
Publisher: Jaico Publishing House
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2015-04-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 8184952864

The Blogging Revolution is a colourful and revelatory account of bloggers around the globe who live and write under repressive regimes – many of them risking their lives in doing so. Antony Loewenstein’s travels take him to private parties in Iran and Egypt, internet cafes in Saudi Arabia and Damascus, to the homes of Cuban dissidents and into newspaper offices in Beijing, where he discovers the ways in which the internet is threatening the rule of governments. Through first-hand investigations, he reveals the complicity of Western multinationals in the restriction of information in these countries and how bloggers are leading the charge for change. The book also reveals some of the key players of the Arab Spring and how years of organising, web dissent and bravery led to momentous changes in US-backed dictatorships across the Middle East in 2010 and 2011. The Blogging Revolution is a superb examination of the nature of repression in the twenty-first century and the power of brave individuals to overcome it.

Expressivity in Modern Poetry

Expressivity in Modern Poetry
Author: Donald Wellman
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2019-02-26
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 168393119X

Expressivity in Modern Poetry explores three interrelated subjects. The first is a general exposition of the radical or deeply realistic aspects of the poetry and visual arts of the modem period. The focus is on the works of Ezra Pound as understood through a prism of postmodern thought. The second subject is the poetry and poetics of Charles Olson, a pivotal figure during the transition from modernism to postmodemism. The third subject is contemporary innovative poetry with special attention to transcultural, neobarroco, and language-centered aspects of composition. The grounding for this section is found in the works of William Carlos Williams, Aime Cesaire, and Jose Lezama Lima. A reversal of the relation between the center and periphery-decentering the New York-to-Paris vector-is crucial for understanding the Caribbean as a seedbed for both innovative and identity-based poetics. Wellman's purpose is to amplify the cultural importance of expressivity in a field where critical discussion is often dominated by constructivism and conceptualism. Expressivity in Modern Poetry offers a new reading of the relation between twentieth-century modernism and contemporary poetic practice.

Buena Vista in the Club

Buena Vista in the Club
Author: Geoffrey Baker
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2011-04-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 0822349590

Geoffrey Baker traces the trajectory of the Havana hip hop scene from the late 1980s to the present and analyzes its partial eclipse by reggaet&ón.

Cuba

Cuba
Author: Julia E. Sweig
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2016-05-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0190620390

Ever since Fidel Castro assumed power in Cuba in 1959, Americans have obsessed about the nation ninety miles south of the Florida Keys. America's fixation on the tropical socialist republic has only grown over the years, fueled in part by successive waves of Cuban immigration and Castro's larger-than-life persona. Cubans are now a major ethnic group in Florida, and the exile community is so powerful that every American president has curried favor with it. But what do most Americans really know about Cuba itself? In this third edition of the widely hailed Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know?, Julia Sweig updates her concise and remarkably accessible portrait of the small island nation. This edition contains a new foreword that discusses developments since Obama and Raul Castro announced the normalization of US-Cuba relations and restored formal diplomatic ties. A new final chapter discusses how normalization came to pass and covers Pope Francis' visit to Cuba, where he met with Fidel and Raul Castro. Expansive in coverage and authoritative in scope, the book looks back over Cuba's history since the Spanish American War before shifting to recent times. Focusing equally on Cuba's role in world affairs and its own social and political transformations, Sweig divides the book chronologically into the pre-Fidel era, the period between the 1959 revolution and the fall of the Soviet Union, the post-Cold War era, and -- finally -- the post-Fidel era. Informative, pithy, and lucidly written, it is the best compact reference on Cuba's internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community. What Everyone Needs to Know? is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.

A History of the Cuban Revolution

A History of the Cuban Revolution
Author: Aviva Chomsky
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2015-02-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1118942302

A fully-revised and updated new edition of a concise and insightful socio-historical analysis of the Cuban revolution, and the course it took over five and a half decades. Now available in a fully-revised second edition, including new material to add to the book’s coverage of Cuba over the past decade under Raul Castro All of the existing chapters have been updated to reflect recent scholarship Balances social and historical insight into the revolution with economic and political analysis extending into the twenty-first century Juxtaposes U.S. and Cuban perspectives on the historical impact of the revolution, engaging and debunking the myths and preconceptions surrounding one of the most formative political events of the twentieth century Incorporates more student-friendly features such as a timeline and glossary

Cuban Studies 37

Cuban Studies 37
Author: Louis A. Pérez
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2006-10-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0822971089

Cuban Studies has been published annually by the University of Pittsburgh Press since 1985. Founded in 1970, it is the preeminent journal for scholarly work on Cuba. Each volume includes articles in both English and Spanish, a large book review section, and an exhaustive compilation of recent works in the field. Widely praised for its interdisciplinary approach and trenchant analysis of an array of topics, each volume features the best scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. Cuban Studies 37 includes articles on environmental law, economics, African influence in music, irreverent humor in postrevolutionary fiction, international education flow between the United States and Cuba, and poetry, among others. Beginning with volume 34 (2003), the publication is available electronically through Project MUSE®, an award-winning online database of full-text scholarly journals. More information can be found at http://muse.jhu.edu/publishers/pitt_press/.

Reflections

Reflections
Author: Sarah Buxton
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2020-11-30
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1527563219

Mirroring, doubling, imitation, parody, intertextuality. The contributors to this volume — all postgraduate researchers at the time of writing — engage with some of these familiar words to produce articles that deal with the concept of “reflections” in literary and visual culture. Ranging from Italian Golden Age theatre to contemporary French literature and from Cuban film to German fiction, the twelve essays in this volume provide a fresh look at Modern Language Studies, highlighting in particular, the interdisciplinary nature of this field. On one level, the volume speaks to those exploring Modern Language Studies for the first time, for example, undergraduate students, who seek a greater understanding of the dialogue between language and culture. However, the individual essays also have the potential to attract experienced scholars either looking for new knowledge on specialist subjects, or ways of approaching research in Modern Languages. Through its central theme, Reflections: New Perspectives in Modern Languages and Cultures makes some suggestions about the way forward for Modern Language Studies.