Caribbean Books - Page 11

Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana

Stephanie Elizondo Griest

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Desperate to escape South Texas, Stephanie Elizondo Griest dreamed of becoming a foreign correspondent. So she headed to Russia looking for some excitement—commencing what would become a four-year, twelve-nation Communist bloc tour that shattered her preconceived notions of the “Evil Empire.”

In Around the Bloc, Griest relates her experiences as a volunteer at a children’s shelter in Moscow, a propaganda polisher at the office of the Chinese Communist Party’s English-language mouthpiece in Beijing, and a belly dancer among the rumba queens of Havana. She falls in love with an ex-soldier who narrowly avoided radiation cleanup duties at Chernobyl, hangs out with Cuban hip-hop artists, and comes to difficult realizations about the meaning of democracy.

is the absorbing story of a young journalist driven by a desire to witness the effects of Communism. Along the way, she learns the Russian mathematical equation for buying dinner-party vodka (one bottle per guest, plus an extra), stumbles upon Beijing’s underground gay scene, marches with 100,000 mothers demanding Elián González’s return to Cuba, and gains a new appreciation for the Mexican culture she left behind.

Moon Handbooks Havana

Christopher P. Baker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A travel book to discourage travel. 2 out of 5 stars.
6 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Having just returned from Havana I find this book to be the most disingenuous exercise I can remember. While there are certainly facts and history aplenty, the author, who must work for a certain company, makes Havana as repugnant as possible. The blockade, engineered by fanatics who fled Havana for Miami to avoid prosecution or persecution these forty years ago continues without any sane reason. There is a refreshing intellectual life. Civil liberties are no more endangered in Havana than in Alabama or the Bronx. US citizens are now required by the Bush administration to have exit visas from the US issued by the Treasury Department. A nurse told me that Cuba is a third world country. I told her that a Third World country wouldn't have universal health care, no illiteracy, no threat of AIDS, no perinatal mortality, and a system of preventative medicine to be envied. No, I told her, it is I who live in a third world country.
In his litany of deficiencies the author fails to compare anything. Streets are bad. Compared to Baltimore? Slums. Compared to Newark? Poor people. Compared to Mississippi?
You should buy this book (if you are going to Havana) for its wealth of history and useful facts. Do not allow the authors grumpy interpretations influence how you feel about Havana or the Cuban people.

Editorial Review:

From a night at the high-octane Tropicana nightclub, to touring the Havana's monuments to the Revolution, to visiting Hemingway's Havana hangouts, travelers looking for more than the standard itinerary will find many unique options in this updated guide. Author Christopher P. Baker, a well-respected and best-selling authority on travel to Cuba and Latin America, presents everything a traveler needs to know when heading to Havana. This guide is packed with comprehensive information on accommodations, dining, sights, and recreation, covering a wide range of budgets and personal interests. Filled with color photographs, custom maps, witty sidebars, current guidelines for legal travel, and a complete coverage of the city's complex history, the second edition of Moon Handbooks Havana is the most comprehensive resource for travelers to this popular travel destination.

Cuba Diaries: An American Housewife in Havana

Isadora Tattlin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Isadora Tattlin was accustomed to relocating often for her husband’s work. But when he accepted a post in Cuba in the early 1990s, she resolved to keep a detailed diary of her time there, recording her daily experiences as a wife, mother, and foreigner in a land of contraband. The result is a striking, rare glimpse into a tiny country of enormous splendor and squalor. Though the Tattlins are provided with a well-staffed Havana mansion, the store shelves are bare. On the streets, beggars plead for soap, not coins. A vet with few real medical supplies operates on a carved mahogany coffee table in a Louis XIV–style drawing room. The people adore festivity, but Christmas trees are banned. And when Isadora hosts a dinner party whose guest list includes Fidel Castro himself, she observes the ultimate contradiction at the very heart of Cuba. Vividly capturing Cuba’s simultaneously appalling and enchanting essence, Cuba Diaries casts an irresistible spell and lifts the enigma of an island that is trapped in time, but not in spirit.

Sleeping with the Toucans: 100 Great Places to Stay in Costa Rica

Chris Fields; Alison Tinsley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Just right 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Its nice to read a guide book by people who have actually been there and write it as they see it - nice comfortable writing about where and what - and a big help in finding the places you want to stay in

unusual and fun guidebook 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a fabulous book that explores the tiny, eclectic, out of the way lodgings that aren't included in other guide books. The authors provide a snapshot of each place with a substantial description to give you a good idea of what kind of atmosphere each one evokes. Definately a good choice if you're planning that trip to Costa Rica!

Great guidebook for our family 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Sleeping with the Toucans proved to be the perfect companion for our 1 month trip to Costa Rica in February. Travelling with two 6 year old children can be a bit of a challenge - but this book took the guessing out of what to see and where to stay for our family. This is not just a book filled with lodging ideas - as each section begins with very detailed information about the area, towns and sights. I love the descriptions of all the geographical areas and made several changes in our route based on reading such clear and personal descriptions. The lodging sections have great places to stay on any budget - and calls attention to different lodging categories and amentities - honeymoon, get away, kid friendly, wildlife viewing etc... I am so pleased to find this book and hope that travelers following the authors suggestions are as excited as we are to visit beautiful Costa Rica.

Editorial Review:

This book includes charming small inns, B&Bs, luxury villas, jungle lodges, birder's retreats, beach paradises, decadent spas, and many other fantastic places the reader should know about in Costa Rica. Great destinations for honeymoons, romantic get-aways, birding, surfing, hiking, horse-back riding, yoga, or relaxing at the spa are covered. Charming options for every budget. More than 150 color photographs.

2009-2010 Sailors Guide to the Windward Islands: Martinique to Grenada

Chris Doyle

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Editorial Review:

Revised and updated for 2009-2010, this guide features detailed sketch charts based on the author's own surveys, and aerial photos of most anchorages. It also includes clear and concise navigational information. By far the most popular guide to the area, it covers the islands from Martinique to Grenada, with dazzling scenic photography, unsurpassed onshore information, sections on exploring, provisioning, water sports, services, restaurants and photography. Information is linked to the author's website where you can download town maps, GPS waypoints from the sketch charts, and obtain links to local weather, news and more.

This Is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives

Ben Corbett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A colorful first-person account of living on the fringes of Castro's Cuba, and a splendid evocation of the modern Cuban character.

Beyond the throngs of tourists streaming through Central Havana's broad Prado Avenue, and outside the yoke of Castro's 43-year-old Revolutionary program, there exists a parallel Cuba - a separate evolution of a people struggling to survive. With personal stories that depict a people torn between following the directives of their government and finding a way to better their lot, journalist Ben Corbett gives us the daily life of many considered outlaws by Castro's regime. But are they outlaws or rather ingenious survivors of what many Cubans consider to be a forty-year mistake, a tangle of contradictions that has resulted in a strange hybrid of American-style capitalism and a homegrown black market economy.

At a time when Cuba walks precariously on the ledge between socialism and capitalism, This Is Cuba gets to the heart of this so-called outlaw culture, taking readers into the living rooms, rooftops, parks, and city streets to hear stories of frustration, hope, and survival. Updated with a new preface.

Fodor's Spanish for Travelers

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Dominican Republic In Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics and Culture (In Focus Guides)

David John Howard

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Summary 3 out of 5 stars.
7 of 10 people found this review helpful.

This book has dealt well with subjects like the economy, politics, and local places to visit. Unfortunately, I found the information on the history and cultural identity of the Dominicans to be lacking information. For example, When Howard spoke too briefly of the Taino Indians or how the Dominicans have a need to be more "Indian". He was totally incorrect. The author does not hold a strong enough argument or facts to support this. He leaves the reader with much confusion about the Dominican identity.

Facinating 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This book is a much needed new insight on Dominican Republic where I travelled a lot a few years ago. It is very interesting situation with haiti and the author adresses cultural issues sensitively but informatively. The book is very easily to read and has a good order.

Editorial Review:

Currently one of the biggest tourist destinations in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic has much more to offer than its idyllic beaches. "Dominican Republic in Focus" is a authoritative and up-to-date guide to this vibrant country. It explores the land, history and politics, economy, society and people, culture and includes tips on where to go and what to see. Photos and maps.

The Reader's Companion to Cuba

Alan Ryan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Required Reading 4 out of 5 stars.
26 of 26 people found this review helpful.

The Reader's Companion to Cuba is one of an excellent series in the Readers Companion books from Harvest. Edited by Alan Ryan, who edited all of the books in this series, this book is required reading for anyone expecting to travel to Cuba or to any student that is studying Cuba to any degree. The book is a chronicle of Cuba from the mid 1800s to the 90s seen through the eyes of various witnesses including such literary greats as Langston Hughes, Amiri Bakari(formally Leroi Jones, poet and playwrite of the such works as the Dutchman ). One simply can not write a book about Cuba without including something about the late legend, Ernest Hemingway. Arnold Samuelson, Norman Lewis, and Martha Gellhorn, one of Hemingway's many former wives fulfill this task beautifully. It also includes an account from sports great Tommy Lasorda who played in Cuba during the off season. There's even an account about mob activities during the reign of Fugencio Batista by Frank Ragano and Selwyn Raab.

Editorial Review:

A gathering of some of the best travel writing ever about the most intriguing hot spot in the Caribbean, this book includes work by Hemingway, Langston Hughes, Thomas Merton, Anais Nin, Frederic Remington, James Michener, Tommy Lasorda, and others.

Insight Guide Trinidad & Tobago (Insight Guides Trinidad and Tobago)

Lesley Gordon

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Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> Guidebooks

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Best as an information source...NOT a guide 2 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

All in all I was disappointed with this book. I purchased it as a guide around T&T, but it's not very useful for that. It's a great source of information about Trinidad, as far as the history and culture, but don't waste your money if you're looking for a solid guidebook. The best book by far was the Rough Guide to T&T. I spent 9 days there and the Rough Guide was literally my Bible, I didn't go anywhere without it. If you're planning a trip and need a solid guide book for where to stay, where to go, and how to get around, don't purchase the Insight Guide. If you're into colorful pictures and historical information, this is the book for you.

Editorial Review:

"Insight Guides" provide the complete picture through expert and informative text and remarkable photography. Each book is an inspiring background read, serving as an invaluable, on-the-spot companion. They can also be kept as a superb, visual souvenir of a visit. Expert local writers bring to life a destination's history, culture, arts and people. The guides contain detailed, cross-reference maps, which means that areas and sites mentioned can be quickly pin pointed. They also incorporate all the travel details and contact numbers visitors will need.