La Revolución
A History of the Cuban Revolution by Call Number: F1788 .C465 2015ISBN: 9781118942284Publication Date: 2015A fully-revised and updated new edition of a concise socio-historical analysis of the Cuban revolution and its more than 50 year history.
Cuba since the Revolution Of 1959 by Call Number: F1788 .F326 2011ISBN: 9781608461394Publication Date: 2011For assessments of the Cuban Revolution and Cuba’s political situation in the wider world, popular recent accounts include Samuel Farber’s book. His critical evaluation comes from a democratic socialist viewpoint. His account is critical, yet sympathetic, and lies very much in the middle between those held by the enemies and apologists of the Cuban government.
Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know by Call Number: F1754.7 .S84 2012ISBN: 9780199896707Publication Date: 2013Sweig frames her book in a question-and-answer format. Also a critical, yet sympathetic, account, her book lies very much in the middle between those held by the enemies and apologists of the Cuban government. This is a revised second edition.
Cuban Revelations by Call Number: Van Pelt E183.8.C9 F69 2013ISBN: 9780813044651Publication Date: 2013Journalist Marc Frank, a longtime observer of Cuban politics and society, provides analysis of the changes taking place within Cuba as leadership evolves from Fidel Castro to Raúl Castro.
Havana
Cathedral in Havana. Courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org.
Travel & Memoir
The Other Side of Paradise by Call Number: F1799.H35 C66 2014ISBN: 9781580055314Publication Date: 2014Combining storytelling with reportage, author Julia Cooke sheds light on the daily lives and future prospects of young people in Cuba today.
Cuba Unspun by Call Number: F1765.3 J67 2012ISBN: 0889822891Publication Date: 2012Rosa Jordan introduces readers to Cubans in all walks of life, people whom she has met during travels around the island by bike, bus, plane, train, truck, and car. Familiar places like Havana and Varadero are viewed from unfamiliar angles and serve as starting points for adventures that began in 1996 and continue into the future. (From the Publisher).
Slow Train to Guantanamo by Call Number: F1765.3 .M55 2013ISBN: 1908129506Publication Date: 2013A rambling odyssey set in the later days of the Castro regime, on the Cuban rail system. (From the Publisher).
Dancing with Cuba by Call Number: F1765.3 .G85 2004ISBN: 0375420932Publication Date: 2004The excellent journalist Alma Guillermoprieto has written a memoir of living in Cuba in 1970 during which time she was a dancer working with Cuban dance students.
Havana
Old Havana Series. Photographed by Nick Kenrick. Obtained with Creative Commons on flickr.
Cuba: Art & Culture
Old Square in Havanna. Courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org.
There has been plenty to read about Cuba ever since getting there became more difficult for Americans. Here are a few suggestions of works published in the new century that can provide some context for the first-time visitor.
Bibliographer
Selected and Annotated By:
Joseph Holub
Librarian for Spain, Portugal, and Latin America
holub @ pobox.upenn.edu
Website Edited By:
Kelsey LeClair
Specialist in Classical Studies
Administrative Assistant, Penn Libraries
kleclair @ pobox.upenn.edu
For more information about this and other excursions, visit Penn Alumni Travel.
CBS News: The Story of Modern Cuba
The Story of Modern Cuba, CBS News. 2014.
An in-depth look at Cuba's history, current societal and political policies, and hopes for its future.
Watch the documentary in its entirety below, as provided by YouTube.
The Architecture of Havana
Havana by Call Number: F1799.H34 G3613 2001ISBN: 2845760280Publication Date: 2001-04-01An account of Havana’s architecture over time.
Havana Deco by Call Number: N6603.5.A78 A4613 2007ISBN: 0393732320Publication Date: 2007-11-17Covers architecture, interior design, and the visual arts.
Great Houses of Havana by Call Number: NA7276.H38 M35 2011ISBN: 1580932886Publication Date: 2011-11-08More in the handsome coffee table vein.
Havana Revisited by Call Number: NA804.H3 G75 2010ISBN: 0393732843Publication Date: 2010-04-12Interpreting the present in light of the past, eleven renowned architects, historians, scholars, preservationists, and urban planners in Cuba and the United States provide a rigorous examination of Havana old and new that provokes exploration of the ways we look at all cities. (From the publisher)
Art
Cuba: A History in Art by Call Number: Fine Arts Library ND303 .L53 2015ISBN: 9780813049984Publication Date: 2015A selection from the Cuban Foundation Collection traces the development and flowering of the arts in Cuba from the 1600s to 1959.
Cuba: Arte Contemporáneo by Call Number: N6603 .C83 2012ISBN: 1590207769Publication Date: 2012Profiles of fifty artists over fifty years, telling the story of modern Cuba through visual art the recent loosening of the U.S. embargo and Castro's opening up of state-regulated tourism has yielded a flurry of student programs, professional conferences, books, movies, and general enthusiasm in this country for all things Cuban. (From the Publisher).
Without masks : contemporary Afro-Cuban art : the von Christierson collection by Call Number: N6603 .H47 2010ISBN: 0620471689Publication Date: 2010
To and from Utopia in the New Cuban Art by Call Number: N6603.2 .W45 2011ISBN: 081666515XPublication Date: 2011A textually denser discussion of developments in contemporary Cuban art.
Trinidad
Trinidad, by bernachoc.
Tales, Tunes, and Tassa Drums: Retention and Invention in Indo-Caribbean Music by Call Number: Van Pelt ML3565 .M373 2015ISBN: 9780252038815Publication Date: 2014Tassa drumming emerged from the transplanted Indian music traditions creatively recombined into a new musical genre that is uniquely Indo-Trinidadian Music scholar Peter Manuel works from an archive of field recordings and examines the music carried to Trinidad by among other groups, Bhojpuri-speaking immigrants.
Historic Landmarks of Port of Spain by Call Number: F2123.P66 A57 2008ISBN: 0333975553Publication Date: 2008
'Til the Well Runs Dry by Call Number: PS3606.R3658 T55 2014ISBN: 9780805098037Publication Date: 2014Penn Alumna Francis-Sharma's first novel is set largely in Trinidad and is inspired by aspects of her grandmother's life.
Cienfuegos
Football in the streets of Cienfuegos, Cuba, by Roger.
State of Ambiguity by Call Number: F1784 .S73 2014ISBN: 9780822356301Publication Date: 2014A collection of scholarly articles which re-examine Cuba's first republic not as a time of turmoil, but as the development and power of a community fighting for their nation.
Gender and Slave Emancipation in the Atlantic World by ISBN: 9780822387466Publication Date: 2005In-depth analyses of gender and slave emancipation within multiple counties along the Atlantic, including within Cuba's Cienfuegos.
Classic Cars
Classic cars in Havana. Courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org.
Classic Cars. Photogaphed by Gary Balding. Obtained with Creative Commons on flickr.
Cuban History & Culture
A Contemporary Cuba Reader: the Revolution under Raúl Castro by Call Number: F1788 .C67 2015ISBN: 1442230991Publication Date: 2014A Contemporary Cuba Reader brings together recent scholarship and writing on Cuban politics, economics, foreign relations, society, and culture in present-day Cuba.
Cuba by Call Number: F1776 .P46 2014ISBN: 0199301441Publication Date: 2014This historical survey examines Cuba's political and economic development within the context of its international relations and continuing struggle for self-determination. . . Author Louis A. Pérez, Jr., integrates local and provincial developments with issues of class, race, and gender to give readers a full and fascinating account of Cuba's history, focusing on its struggle for nationality. From the Publisher.
