Cuba on the Verge: An Island in Transition by Terry McCoy (Editor), Terry McCoy, Arthur Miller (Epilogue by)

From the Publisher

This riveting analogy showcases the work of leading Cuban and American writers and photographers and offers unprecedented insight into life in the island nation today. While the world ponders Cuba's future, and the United States weighs the effects of the trade embargo imposed more than 40 years ago, Cubans go about their everyday lives overcoming obstacles with a mixture of about their everyday lifes overcoming obstacles with a mixture of ingenuity, intelligence, perseverance, and above all else, a sense of humor. How does this transitional moment in the island's history find expression in the lives of the Cuban people? What do the social, cultural, and personal landscapes of Cuba look and feel like today? CUBA ON THE VERGE is an honest and balanced portrayal of the complex realities of modern Cuban life.

Critically acclaimed novelise Ruseell Banks recalls his dream as a young man of joining the Revolution--and climbs the Sierra Maestra in an attempt to come to terms with that vision of long ago; Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming in Cuban, writes about the experience of exile and the adaptations it engenders; New Yorker correspondent Jon Lee Anderson writes about the New Middle Class in Cuba; and Antonio Jose Ponte, one of the most talented of the current generation of Cuban writers, meditates on the unique sense of time on the island.

Essays and portfolios of images are linked to central themes, incuding Afro-Cuban culture, traditional music versus the cutting edge, architecture, sexuality, Santeria, rural life, exile, and the role of women in Cuban society.

People Magazine

"...gives readers cause for rejoicing...the words are as powerful as the pictures...a fresh and moving portrait of modern Cuba...picture-perfect."

The Washington Post

Castro's super-sized figure has tended to push the Cuban people themselves into the background. But in Cuba on the Verge: An Island in Transition, an evocative book of photographs and essays edited by Terry McCoy, the Cubans finally manage to muscle Castro off center stage. — Mary Speck

Publishers Weekly

As Kennedy explains, this collection of essays and photographs by Cubans, Cubans in exile and interested Americans isn't so much about the politics of Cuba as "the consequence of politics to Cuba." While its structure is simple enough-short essays on themes like spirituality, the new middle class and rural life coupled with sets of photos, introduced by artists' statements-its texture is delightfully varied and idiosyncratic. In playwright Abelardo Estorino's comical "I Smoke Marlboros," a well-meaning gringo, a revolutionary servant and her formerly upper-class employer cross wits. The entry on Cuban music is a pastiche of interviews with stars Chucho Valdes and El Tosco, who both segue seamlessly into politics and history as they discuss music. There are straightforward autobiographical reflections, like Achy Obejas's thoughts on returning to Cuba and being mistaken for an American, and more philosophical meditations, such as Eduardo Rodriguez's essay on being a "casual stroller" through Old Havana's restorations and ruins. The photos following each entry are related thematically, but could stand alone as visual essays. Some, like Kattia Garcia Fayat's "Women in the New Cuba," speak a sensual language, where the subjects' gestures and postures communicate volumes; others, like Manuel Pina's offerings, unpeel time in the falling paint from walls and the frozen dignity of a once elegant parlor. The kaleidoscope of images-Virginia Beahan's breathtakingly empty landscapes, Sylvia Plachy's vibrant urban scenes, Abelardo Morell's haunting camera obscura projections of cityscapes on interiors-will open readers' eyes to a country not so much "third world" as "other world." (May 20) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Cuba, its people, and its culture seem to be a source of fascination for writers and photographers. This latest production, edited by journalist and film producer McCoy, links essays and photography by Cuban and American artists via various themes, including the Afro-Cuban culture, spirituality, sexual healing, rural life, the double face of change, the middle class, and Cuba past and present. Pulitzer Prize winner William Kennedy supplies the introduction, and Arthur Miller contributes the epilog. The book's strength and weakness both lie in the 15 original essays by American and Cuban writers (e.g., Russell Banks, Cristina Garcia, Susan Orlean, and Achy Obejas), which give the reader a glimpse into the heart of the people but are inconsistent in quality. Ranging from exceptional to ordinary, 75 black-and-white and color photographs by Ren Pe a, Sylvia Plachy, and Carrie Mae Weems, among others, support the essays and expand upon the flavor of the culture. The book is reminiscent of E. Wright Ledbetter's recent Cuba: Picturing Change, which pairs rich photographs with essays on Cuba's history and customs-a hard act to follow.-Karen MacMurray, Cape Coral P.L., FL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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