Return To Havana by Maurice Halperin

Product Details

Synopsis

An insightful personal memoir that contrasts firsthand the dream of the Cuban Revolution as it was in the early 1960s with the deprivations, hardships, and loss of hope that haunt Cuban society today.

Annotation

"A personal account from a prominent intellectual whose writings on Cuba have become a mixture of disillusionment and fatalism. This book is based on an account of Halperin's visit in 1989, which left him less optimistic than ever about Cuba's future. He found 'the popular mood one of deep discouragement' (p. 190) and could not imagine 'any young Cuban, or even older ones, prepared to die for socialism.'"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

Library Journal

Halperin, now 88, first visited Cuba in 1935 (and was promptly deported by the Batista government). He returned in 1962 and lived in Cuba for six years, teaching and advising the Castro government. He has since published stinging critiques of Castro's Cuba in The Rise and Decline of Fidel Castro (LJ 10/1/72) and The Taming of Fidel Castro (LJ 2/15/81). His latest book is the result of a final month-long visit Halperin made in November 1989. His central theme is the contrast between daily life in present-day Cuba and the Cuba Halperin knew in the 1960s. He is appalled at the deterioration of Havana and cites inherently bad planning as the chief cause. Visits to old friends vividly illustrate the sharp decline in the standard of living. Halperin offers an insider's perspective on the Cuban economy and reconsiders Castro's dominant role in Cuban life. This is an important assessment that joins other recent reports (e.g., Jacobo Timerman's Cuba: A Journey, LJ 10/15/90) as a continuing indictment of the Cuban experiment. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.-Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, Pa.