Last Dance In Havana

Author : Eugene Robinson
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 349 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2012-11-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781439138090

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Last Dance in Havana by Eugene Robinson Pdf

In power for forty-four years and counting, Fidel Castro has done everything possible to define Cuba to the world and to itself -- yet not even he has been able to control the thoughts and dreams of his people. Those thoughts and dreams are the basis for what may become a post-Castro Cuba. To more fully understand the future of America's near neighbor, veteran reporter Eugene Robinson knew exactly where to look -- or rather, to listen. In this provocative work, Robinson takes us on a sweaty, pulsating, and lyrical tour of a country on the verge of revolution, using its musicians as a window into its present and future. Music is the mother's milk of Cuban culture. Cubans express their fondest hopes, their frustrations, even their political dissent, through music. Most Americans think only of salsa and the Buena Vista Social Club when they think of the music of Cuba, yet those styles are but a piece of a broad musical spectrum. Just as the West learned more about China after the Cultural Revolution by watching From Mao to Mozart, so will readers discover the real Cuba -- the living, breathing, dying, yet striving Cuba. Cuban music is both wildly exuberant and achingly melancholy. A thick stew of African and European elements, it is astoundingly rich and influential to have come from such a tiny island. From rap stars who defy the government in their lyrics to violinists and pianists who attend the world's last Soviet-style conservatory to international pop stars who could make millions abroad yet choose to stay and work for peanuts, Robinson introduces us to unforgettable characters who happily bring him into their homes and backstage discussions. Despite Castro's attempts to shut down nightclubs, obstruct artists, and subsidize only what he wants, the musicians and dancers of Cuba cannot stop, much less behave. Cubans move through their complicated lives the way they move on the dance floor, dashing and darting and spinning on a dime, seducing joy and fulfillment and next week's supply of food out of a broken system. Then at night they take to the real dance floors and invent fantastic new steps. Last Dance in Havana is heartwrenching, yet ultimately as joyous and hopeful as a rocking club late on a Saturday night.

Author : Rosanna Ley
Publisher : Quercus Publishing
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2017-11-09
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781787471740

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Last Dance in Havana by Rosanna Ley Pdf

From the #1 Kindle Bestseller comes an exotic tale of love, family and friendship 'The perfect holiday companion' - Heat 'The ultimate feel-good read' - Candis 'Sun-soaked escapism' - Best ********** Cuba, 1958 Elisa is only sixteen years old when she meets Duardo and she knows he's the love of her life from the moment they first dance the rumba together in downtown Havana. But Duardo is a rebel, determined to fight in Castro's army, and Elisa is forced to leave behind her homeland and rebuild her life in distant England. But how can she stop longing for the warmth of Havana, when the music of the rumba still calls to her? England, 2012 Grace has a troubled relationship with her father, whom she blames for her beloved mother's untimely death. And this year more than ever she could do with a shoulder to cry on - Grace's career is in flux, she isn't sure she wants the baby her husband is so desperate to have and, worst of all, she's begun to develop feelings for their best friend Theo. Theo is a Cuban born magician but even he can't make Grace's problems disappear. Is the passion Grace feels for Theo enough to risk her family's happiness? ******** SEE WHAT EVERYONE IS SAYING ABOUT ROSANNA LEY: 'An impeccably researched and deftly written narrative that kept me hooked until the end' - Kathryn Hughes, bestselling author of The Letter 'Loved it from start to finish. A brilliant holiday read' - Amazon reviewer 'Perfect for fans of Santa Montefiore, Victoria Hislop and Leah Fleming' - Candis 'On so many levels a fantastic read' - Amazon reviewer 'A fascinating story with engaging themes' - Dinah Jefferies, bestselling author of The Tea Planter's Wife 'Warm, enthralling, one of my favourite authors' - Amazon reviewer

Author : Chanel Cleeton
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2018-02-06
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780399586699

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Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton Pdf

A HELLO SUNSHINE x REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK “A beautiful novel that's full of forbidden passions, family secrets and a lot of courage and sacrifice.”—Reese Witherspoon After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity—and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution... Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest—until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary... Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth. Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate. When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her understand the true meaning of courage.

Author : Umi Vaughan
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2012-10-17
Category : Music
ISBN : 9780472118489

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Rebel Dance, Renegade Stance by Umi Vaughan Pdf

An ethnography of music and dance exploring the economic, social, and ideological constraints under which social classes and racial groups interact

Author : Tom Crosshill
Publisher : HarperCollins
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2016-09-06
Category : Young Adult Fiction
ISBN : 9780062422859

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The Cat King of Havana by Tom Crosshill Pdf

Lolcats. Salsa dancing. Unrequited love. Tom Crosshill's smart and witty debut teen novel treads a colorful coming-of-age journey from New York City to Havana that will appeal to fans of books by Matthew Quick and Junot Díaz. When Rick Gutiérrez—known as "That Cat Guy" at school—gets dumped on his sixteenth birthday for uploading cat videos from his bedroom instead of experiencing the real world, he realizes it's time for a change. So Rick joins a salsa class . . . because of a girl, of course. Ana Cabrera is smart, friendly, and smooth on the dance floor. He might be half Cuban, but Rick dances like a drunk hippo. Desperate to impress Ana, he invites her to spend the summer in Havana. The official reason: learning to dance. The hidden agenda: romance under the palm trees. Except Cuba isn't all sun, salsa, and music. As Rick and Ana meet his family and investigate the reason why his mother left Cuba decades ago, they learn that politics isn't just something that happens to other people. And when they find romance, it's got sharp edges.

Author : Mayra Montero
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2007-05-15
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780374707668

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Dancing to "Almendra" by Mayra Montero Pdf

Havana, 1957. On the same day that the Mafia capo Umberto Anastasia is assassinated in a barber's chair in New York, a hippopotamus escapes from the Havana zoo and is shot and killed by its pursuers. Assigned to cover the zoo story, Joaquín Porrata, a young Cuban journalist, instead finds himself embroiled in the mysterious connections between the hippo's death and the mobster's when a secretive zookeeper whispers to him that he "knows too much." In exchange for a promise to introduce the keeper to his idol, the film star George Raft, now the host of the Capri Casino, Joaquín gets information that ensnares him in an ever-thickening plot of murder, mobsters, and, finally, love. The love story is, of course, another mystery. Told by Yolanda, a beautiful ex-circus performer now working for the famed cabaret San Souci, it interleaves through Joaquín's underworld investigations, eventually revealing a family secret deeper even than Havana's brilliantly evoked enigmas. In Dancing to "Almendra," Mayra Montero has created an ardent and thrilling tale of innocence lost, of Havana's secret world that is "the basis for the clamor of the city," and of the end of a violent era of fantastic characters and extravagant crimes. Based on the true history of a bewitching city and its denizens, Almendra is the latest "triumph" (Library Journal) from one of Latin America's most impassioned and intoxicating voices.

Author : Louis A. Perez, Jr.,K. Lynn Stoner,Gladys Marel Garcia-Perez
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Press
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2005-12-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780822971009

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Cuban Studies 36 by Louis A. Perez, Jr.,K. Lynn Stoner,Gladys Marel Garcia-Perez Pdf

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. This volume contains articles on economics, politics, racial and gender issues, and the exodus of Cuban Jewry in the early 1960s, among others.

Author : Eunice Rojas,Lindsay Michie
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 668 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2013-10-08
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9798216147114

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Sounds of Resistance by Eunice Rojas,Lindsay Michie Pdf

From the gospel music of slavery in the antebellum South to anti-apartheid freedom songs in South Africa, this two-volume work documents how music has fueled resistance and revolutionary movements in the United States and worldwide. Political resistance movements and the creation of music—two seemingly unrelated phenomenon—often result from the seed of powerful emotions, opinions, or experiences. This two-volume set presents essays that explore the connections between diverse musical forms and political activism across the globe, revealing fascinating similarities regarding the interrelationship between music and political resistance in widely different geographic or cultural circumstances. The breadth of specific examples covered in Sounds of Resistance: The Role of Music in Multicultural Activism highlights strong similarities between diverse situations—for example, protest against the Communist government in Poland and drug discourse in hip hop music in the United States—and demonstrates how music has repeatedly played a vital role in energizing or expanding various political movements. By exploring activism and how music relates to specific movements through an interdisciplinary lens, the authors document how music often enables powerless members of oppressed groups to communicate or voice their concerns.

Author : Ted A. Henken
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 608 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2007-10-03
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781851099856

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Cuba by Ted A. Henken Pdf

This fascinating work provides an enlightening guided tour of the island of Cuba's historical, political, economic, and sociocultural development from the pre-Columbian period to the present. Cuba: A Global Studies Handbook offers a revealing look at a nation that, in its ongoing pursuit of freedom, has been a colonial pawn, a neocolonial paradise for corrupt politicians and dictators, an alluring vacation destination, a defiant Communist holdout and embarrassing thorn in the side of the powerful United States. Drawing heavily on his own research and experiences on the island, the author follows Cuba's political, economic, and sociocultural development from the pre-Columbian period to the present—with an emphasis on the revolutionary period. The book's reference section includes alphabetically organized entries on important people, places, and historical events, as well as shorter sections on Cuban Spanish, national traditions and holidays, cuisines, and important organizations. Also featured is a chart tracing the development of Cuban popular music and a listener's guide to some of the best available recordings.

Author : Richard M. Shain
Publisher : Wesleyan University Press
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2018-10-23
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780819577108

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Roots in Reverse by Richard M. Shain Pdf

A study of the impact of Cuban music on Senegalese music and modernity Roots in Reverse explores how Latin music contributed to the formation of the négritude movement in the 1930s. Taking Senegal and Cuba as its primary research areas, this work uses oral histories, participant observation, and archival research to examine the ways Afro-Cuban music has influenced Senegalese debates about cultural and political citizenship and modernity. Shain argues that the trajectory of Afro-Cuban music in twentieth century Senegal illuminates many dimensions of that nation's cultural history such as gender relations, generational competition and conflict, debates over cosmopolitanism and hybridity, the role of nostalgia in Senegalese national culture and diasporic identities. More than just a new form of musical enjoyment, Afro-Cuban music provided listeners with a tool for creating a public sphere free from European and North American cultural hegemony.

Author : Amanda Bader,JoAnn Jansen
Publisher : Penguin Mass Market
Page : 180 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2003-12-19
Category : Juvenile Fiction
ISBN : 0142401226

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Havana Nights by Amanda Bader,JoAnn Jansen Pdf

Author : Robin D. Moore
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2006-04-28
Category : Music
ISBN : 9780520247116

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Music and Revolution by Robin D. Moore Pdf

Annotation A history of Cuban music during the Castro regime (1950s to the present.

Author : Tony Langlois
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 944 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2017-07-05
Category : Music
ISBN : 9781351556149

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Non-Western Popular Music by Tony Langlois Pdf

This collection provides readers with a diverse and contemporary overview of research in the field. Drawing upon scholarly writing from a range of disciplines and approaches, it provides case studies from a wide range of 'non Western' musical contexts. In so doing the volume attends to the central themes that have emerged in this area of popular music studies; cultural politics, identity and the role of technology. This collection does not seek to establish a new theoretical paradigm, but being primarily aimed at researchers and students, offers as comprehensive a view of the research that has been carried out over the last few decades as possible, given the global scope of the subject. Inevitably, the experience of globalisation itself runs through many of the contributions, not only because musicians find themselves part of an immense flow of international culture, technology and finance, but also because Western scholarship can also be considered an aspect of such a flow. The articles selected for the volume take different disciplinary approaches; many are close ethnographic descriptions of musical practices whilst others take a more historical view of a musical 'scene' or even a single musician. Some essays consider the effects of emerging technologies upon the production, dissemination and consumption of music, whilst the political context is central to other authors. The collection as a whole serves as a resource for those who wish to be better acquainted with the diversity of research that has been carried out into non-western pop, whilst also highlighting the broader themes that have, so far, shaped academic approaches to the subject.

Author : Samuel Farber
Publisher : Haymarket Books
Page : 386 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : History
ISBN : 9781608461394

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Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959 by Samuel Farber Pdf

Farber provides a critical analysis of the revolution's impact and legacy on Cuba.

Author : Sarah Bird
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2022-04-12
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781250265555

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Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird Pdf

Set during the Great Depression, Sarah Bird's Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a novel about one woman—and a nation—struggling to be reborn from the ashes. July 3. 1932. Shivering and in shock, Evie Grace Devlin watches the Starlite Palace burn into the sea and wonders how she became a person who would cause a man to kill himself. She’d come to Galveston to escape a dark past in vaudeville and become a good person, a nurse. When that dream is cruelly thwarted, Evie is swept into the alien world of dance marathons. All that she has been denied—a family, a purpose, even love—waits for her there in the place she dreads most: the spotlight. Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a sweeping novel that brings to spectacular life the enthralling worlds of both dance marathons and the family-run empire of vice that was Galveston in the Thirties. Unforgettable characters tell a story that is still deeply resonant today as America learns what Evie learns, that there truly isn’t anything this country can’t do when we do it together. That indomitable spirit powers a story that is a testament to the deep well of resilience in us all that allows us to not only survive the hardest of hard times, but to find joy, friends, and even family, in them.