Havana: Autobiography of a City

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 288 pages
• Published by: Palgrave Macmillan March 18, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1403975396
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1403975393
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 11.2 ounces

From Publishers Weekly
Ignore the confusing subtitle-no, Havana did not write about itself-and focus instead on the strengths of this narrative history from Havana-born author Estrada: depth of research, a lack of political rhetoric ("One of the inherent difficulties of writing about Havana is finding a middle ground between political extremes"), and a deep affection for his hometown. Estrada's pride is evident, as in his description of Havana's 1920s gambling heyday ("when Las Vegas was a filling station in the desert Havana was welcoming conventioneers"), and he manages to cover a huge number of Havana's seemingly innumerable facets: from cigars to Hemingway, Slavery to Castro, the rhumba to baseball. Estrada is at his best chronicling Castro's revolution, a story which for many Americans is a virtual unknown; Estrada's retelling is brief, fair-minded and very well-written. Estrada pays particular attention to the Che Guevara "hardly guessed at by those wearing Che tank tops," revealing Guevara's authoritarian streak, his talent for guerilla warfare and his direct role in the executions of the day. There are faults: the book is overstuffed with information, especially in the chapter on Hemingway, and Estrada's personable, reminiscing style takes a back seat to a more conventional historian's voice after the first chapter. Quibbles aside, this book makes a fine primer on the United States' closest "enemy," told with the love of a native son.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The Washington Post
Reviewed by José Pertierra

Alfredo José Estrada's Havana explores the puzzle of his love affair with a city that has haunted him since he left it as a 1-year old in 1961. Despite remembering "nothing of it," Estrada claims that his life-long ambition was "to hold Havana in the palm of my hand." Nostalgia without personal memory is impossible, but Estrada's book brims with the inherited nostalgia of his family's memories.

In search of the city's allure, Estrada used several return trips to the island after a 30-year absence to try to unravel the enigma of his beloved Havana. The resulting book is a captivating travelogue, even if its substance fails to live up to its prose. Visitors to the island should take it along to read during their trip, to learn, for instance, that the "spacious courtyard where carriages once entered" the Palacio O'Farrill, an "exquisitely restored early-nineteenth-century mansion" in Old Havana that's been transformed into a boutique hotel, is "now the breakfast room."

The book reads like a stone skipping across the surface of the Almendares River. Estrada begins the story of Havana with the native Tainos and right away hops to the Spanish Conquistadores, marauding pirates, British Red Coats, the history of cigars, the sugar business, the slave trade, the wars of independence, José Martí, the sinking of the Maine, the Platt Amendment, Ernest Hemingway, Alejo Carpentier, the Tropicana nightclub, Fulgencio Batista, Desi Arnaz, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. It is too much history to tell in a mere 275 pages, but this is not a history book.

Estrada points out that "the Havana of the 1600s would be recognizable today." The old city escaped the development blight of such cities as Lima and Caracas because the private sector was virtually eliminated by the Cuban Revolution. "La Habana Vieja," he writes, "was preserved like an exotic insect in a drop of amber."

The contemporary Havana that Estrada describes is the Havana of landmarks, restaurants and hotels familiar to most visitors, yet the Havana where more than 2 million habañeros live and work remains a mystery to him. Although the author calls it an autobiography "told from the city's point of view," it is really a tale about Havana told by a Cuban-American visitor who would love to get to know her better.

Copyright 2007, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Havana: Autobiography of a City (Hardcover) I first met the writer during the book fair at the Miami Dade Community College on November 11, 2007. During the conference he spoke about his book and also made some anti embargo comments. Mr. Estrada spends more time accusing past Cuban dictators such as Batista, Grau and Machado of criminal acts and at the same time idolizes a criminal such as Ernesto " Che" Guevara. At no time does Mr. Estrada refers to Fidel Castro as a corrupt dictator that has committed more crimes on the Cuban people than all of Cuba's past "Presidents" put together. Nevertheless the book is well written if he had balance fairly the political history of Cuba.