General Books

Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution

T. J. English

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In modern-day Havana, the remnants of the glamorous past are everywhere—the old hotel-casinos, vintage American cars, and flickering neon signs speak of a bygone era that is widely familiar and often romanticized, but little understood. In Havana Nocturne, T. J. English offers a riveting, multifaceted true tale of organized crime, political corruption, roaring nightlife, revolution, and international conflict that interweaves the dual stories of the Mob in Havana and the event that would overshadow it, the Cuban Revolution.

As the Cuban people labored under a violently repressive regime throughout the 1950s, Mob leaders Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano turned their eye to Havana. To them, Cuba was the ultimate dream, the greatest hope for the future of the American Mob in the post-Prohibition years of intensified government crackdowns. But when it came time to make their move, it was Lansky, the brilliant Jewish mobster, who reigned supreme. Having cultivated strong ties with the Cuban government and in particular the brutal dictator Fulgencio Batista, Lansky brought key mobsters to Havana to put his ambitious business plans in motion.

Before long, the Mob, with Batista's corrupt government in its pocket, owned the biggest luxury hotels and casinos in Havana, launching an unprecedented tourism boom complete with the most lavish entertainment, the world's biggest celebrities, the most beautiful women, and gambling galore. But their dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others who would lead the country's disenfranchised to overthrow their corrupt government and its foreign partners—an epic cultural battle that English captures in all its sexy, decadent, ugly glory.

Bringing together long-buried historical information with English's own research in Havana—including interviews with the era's key survivors—Havana Nocturne takes readers back to Cuba in the years when it was a veritable devil's playground for mob leaders. English deftly weaves together the parallel stories of the Havana Mob—featuring notorious criminals such as Santo Trafficante Jr. and Albert Anastasia—and Castro's 26th of July Movement in a riveting, up-close look at how the Mob nearly attained its biggest dream in Havana—and how Fidel Castro trumped it all with the Cuban Revolution.

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

David McCullough

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 131 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Truman, here is the national bestselling epic chronicle of the creation of the Panama Canal. In The Path Between the Seas, acclaimed historian David McCullough delivers a first-rate drama of the sweeping human undertaking that led to the creation of this grand enterprise.

The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. Applying his remarkable gift for writing lucid, lively exposition, McCullough weaves the many strands of the momentous event into a comprehensive and captivating tale.

Winner of the National Book Award for history, the Francis Parkman Prize, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, and the Cornelius Ryan Award (for the best book of the year on international affairs), The Path Between the Seas is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, the history of technology, international intrigue, and human drama.

The Mystery of 2012: Predictions, Prophecies, and Possibilities

Gregg Braden, Peter Russell, Daniel Pinchbeck, Geoff Stray, John Major Jenkins

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Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> Mayan

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

What Will Happen in 2012? Will there be an age of awakening, a new step in human evolution, or even an end to the world we know? For years, archaeologists have known the Mayan calendar predicts this date as the end of an era on Earth. Today, more and more researchers, spiritual explorers, and even scientists are witnessing signs that 2012 will mark a critical shift in the history of our planet. Now, the leading authorities on the 2012 phenomenon present their insights about this enigmatic date.

Featuring essays from 25 renowned experts on the question of 2012, this invaluable anthology examines the mystery from every angle--spiritual, economic, ecological, and scientific--and to decide for yourself whether 2012 will end with a whimper or a bang. In The Mystery of 2012, you will discover the startling predictions and revelations of prominent thinkers, including: * John Major Jenkins' journey to the source for answers--the original Mayan calendar * Gregg Braden's examination of the scientific evidence for a shift in the Earth's magnetic field, and how it will affect all life * Barbara Marx Hubbard's and Peter Russell's explorations of the accelerating pace of evolution--why we may literally be transforming into a new species * Ecologist Joanna R. Macy's vision of "The Great Turning," and how we can take part in this shift to a life-sustaining culture * Daniel Pinchbeck's investigation of the shift of consciousness that will be necessary for humanity to survive 2012 * Jean Houston's predictions on the coming "Jump Time," and her practical advice for dealing with the impact it will have on your life * Corinne MacLaughlin's discussion of using spirituality and consciousness to influence business and political trends

I, Rigoberta Menchu: Indian Woman in Guatemala

Rigoberta Menchu

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Amazing book of survival 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 11 people found this review helpful.

I read this book years ago and re-read it again recently. It is still one of my favorite books. Rigoberta Menchu suffered unbelievable atrocities and incredible losses and still lived to tell her courageous story through an interpreter. I think the book is phenomenal and I recommend it to anyone with a heart. It helps explain a lot about the Guatamalen people and their strife. It also is a timely book since the illegal immigration debate rages on in this country on a daily basis. It paints a vivid picture of the suffering of indigenous peoples and helps us to relate to their need to escape their countries in search of a better life. I dont know what David Stoll had to gain by writing a book that contradicted Menchu's powerful account. She states at the beginning of her book that her perspective is hers alone and that her memories may have been clouded by the trauma. It makes me crazy when people pick apart one tiny aspect of a book and then, throw the entire thing out as a sham. The same thing happened with the James Frey book, A million little pieces. People tended to ignore the overall strengths of the book and his basic message of surviving drug addiction over a few little insignificant details. This book is the same situation. The overall message and story of rigoberta menchu is so powerful and moving, it must be read, even if there is a fact or two that someone wants to contradict.

Editorial Review:

Interviews with a Guatemalan national leader discuss her country's political situation and the resulting violence, which has claimed the lives of her brother, mother, and father.

Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor (California Series in Public Anthropology, 4)

Paul Farmer

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Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Pathologies of Power uses harrowing stories of life-and death-in extreme situations to interrogate our understanding of human rights. Paul Farmer, a physician and anthropologist with twenty years of experience working in Haiti, Peru, and Russia, argues that promoting the social and economic rights of the world's poor is the most important human rights struggle of our times. With passionate eyewitness accounts from the prisons of Russia and the beleaguered villages of Haiti and Chiapas, this book links the lived experiences of individual victims to a broader analysis of structural violence. Farmer challenges conventional thinking within human rights circles and exposes the relationships between political and economic injustice, on one hand, and the suffering and illness of the powerless, on the other. Farmer shows that the same social forces that give rise to epidemic diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis also sculpt risk for human rights violations. He illustrates the ways that racism and gender inequality in the United States are embodied as disease and death. Yet this book is far from a hopeless inventory of abuse. Farmer's disturbing examples are linked to a guarded optimism that new medical and social technologies will develop in tandem with a more informed sense of social justice. Otherwise, he concludes, we will be guilty of managing social inequality rather than addressing structural violence. Farmer's urgent plea to think about human rights in the context of global public health and to consider critical issues of quality and access for the world's poor should be of fundamental concern to a world characterized by the bizarre proximity of surfeit and suffering.

The Last Days of the Incas

Kim MacQuarrie

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Subjects -> History -> Americas -> Native American -> General

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Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In 1532, the fifty-four-year-old Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers, to the shores of Peru. Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers of Peru had just fought a bloody civil war in which the emperor Atahualpa had defeated his brother Huascar. Pizarro and his men soon clashed with Atahualpa and a huge force of Inca warriors at the Battle of Cajamarca. Despite being outnumbered by more than two hundred to one, the Spaniards prevailed -- due largely to their horses, their steel armor and swords, and their tactic of surprise. They captured and imprisoned Atahualpa. Although the Inca emperor paid an enormous ransom in gold, the Spaniards executed him anyway. The following year, the Spaniards seized the Inca capital of Cuzco, completing their conquest of the largest native empire the New World has ever known. Peru was now a Spanish colony, and the conquistadors were wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.

But the Incas did not submit willingly. A young Inca emperor, the brother of Atahualpa, soon led a massive rebellion against the Spaniards, inflicting heavy casualties and nearly wiping out the conquerors. Eventually, however, Pizarro and his men forced the emperor to abandon the Andes and flee to the Amazon. There, he established a hidden capital, called Vilcabamba. Although the Incas fought a deadly, thirty-six-year-long guerrilla war, the Spanish ultimately captured the last Inca emperor and vanquished the native resistance.

Kim MacQuarrie lived in Peru for five years and became fascinated by the Incas and the history of the Spanish conquest. Drawing on both native and Spanish chronicles, he vividly describes the dramatic story of the conquest, with all its savagery and suspense. MacQuarrie also relates the story of the modern search for Vilcabamba, of how Machu Picchu was discovered, and of how a trio of colorful American explorers only recently discovered the lost Inca capital of Vilcabamba, hidden for centuries in the Amazon.

This authoritative, exciting history is among the most powerful and important accounts of the culture of the South American Indians and the Spanish Conquest.

Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs

Buddy Levy

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Subjects -> History -> Americas -> Mexico

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Just more of the same lies... 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 13 people found this review helpful.

These "historical" accounts are nothing more than a further rehash of the same old lies told by the Europeans. There was never a "King" in Mexico. The title was "Supreme Speaker" and he could be removed from office. The Mexicans were never conquered, they sent the Spaniards totally defeated from Tenochtitlan. The Spanish were from the filthy, disease ridden, continent of Europe where the plague, smallpox and open sewers were the norm. The Spaniards won because they carried smallpox which the daily bathing Mexicans had no immunity to. The numbers of sacrifices were very greatly exagerated by the Spaniards who wished to rewrite history. If you want to talk about human sacrifice, how many "witches" did the Christians burn, drown, hang or torture to death? That number is in the millions and dwarfs by any comparison, the number of cult sacrifices in Mexico. The "Historians" never tell you that there was a civil war raging in Mexico between the Toltecs and the Aztecs, as the Toltec had banned the practice of human sacrifice. It was in this climate that the Europeans entered the picture with their insatiable greed and arrogance. The Spaniards killed 94% of the Mexican people and this was the greatest holocaust in the history of the world and the second greatest crime of humanity (the attempted extinction of the bison by the Americans was the worst). Mexico had advanced mathematics, including the invention of zero, place number notation and calculus. They had an advanced knowledge of the universe, knew of Pluto, had the most advanced calendar in the world that was only bested recently using a supercomputer. The Europeans gathered all the written texts of the pre-Columbian people and burned it all. How convenient for those who always seek to destroy the truth and re-write history. Mexico also developed three fifths of the world's food crops and developed cotton which was the prime motivation for the industrial revolution in Europe which was financed by the incredible amount of gold and silver stolen from Mexico. Over 50% of the gold in the world today was stolen out of Mexico. At the time of the "conquest" Mexico was the most culturally advanced nation on earth, with aqueducts, fountains, flush toilets, sewage treatment, zoos, floating gardens and the largest pyramids and cities on earth. Even the Spaniards thought that they had walked into a "fairy kingdom". The Spanish lied and the "native accounts" were told before the boards of the Spanish inquistion. The surviving Mexicans knew that any accounts they gave could render them "heretics" or "devil worshippers" who would be tortured and burned. These are the "truthful accounts" cited by the Europeans in their deceitful corruption of history. After nearly being exterminated 500 years ago, the Mexicans are now the sixth largest population in the world, recovering and advancing at an unbelievable rate. In closing, imagine if the only view of European history was the regime of the Nazis and their despicable crimes. Imagine if any knowledge of Mozart, Michelangelo or Newton was ignored and we only spoke about the witch burnings of the Christian inquisitions. That would be equivalent to how these modern authors insist on telling the story of pre-invasion America. Remember, in those days, their were no borders and all the native American people travelled freely. The Toltec trade empire stretched form Central America, north to Canada and to both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The emblem of Quetzalcoatl has even turned up in the "mound builder" cities of the Eastern United States. There, they built with mud bricks as they didn't have the manpower to build with stone.

Editorial Review:

In an astonishing work of scholarship that reads like an adventure thriller, historian Buddy Levy records the last days of the Aztec empire and the two men at the center of an epic clash of cultures.

The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems

Pablo Neruda

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( F ) -> Ferlinghetti, Lawrence

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Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A wonderful place to start with Neruda 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Gorgeous work. Neruda is my all time favorite. A beautiful book to give as a gift or to get some started with Neruda.

More than just a great intro-awesome even if you already have some Pablo 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I got The Essential Neruda when it came out in 2004. I already loved Neruda, and have the old Selected Poems edition (which unfortunately ends at 1968, and some of the translations are just plain flat) plus the 20 Love Poems, Residence on Earth, Canto General, and some of the odes. But the translators here (former US Poet Laureate Robert Hass just won the Pulitzer!) just bring Neruda so alive, and the selection of poems just captures his whole range of 'the many Pablos'. So when I came here today to buy one as a gift, I'm pleased by the reviews of how great an introduction to Neruda it is, but I want to stress how great it is as a book to keep going back to again and again. Actually, to quote the great writer Ariel Dorfman on the back cover of the book:

"What beter way to celebrate the hundred years of Neruda's glorious residence on our earth than this selection of crucial works - in both languages! A splendid way to being a love affair with out Pablo or, having already succumbed to his infinite charms, revisit him passionately again and again and yet again."

Editorial Review:

This collection of Neruda's most essential poems will prove indispensable. Selected by a team of poets and prominent Neruda scholars in both Chile and the U.S., this is a definitive selection that draws from the entire breadth and width of Neruda's various styles and themes. An impressive group of translators that includes Alistair Reid, Stephen Mitchell, Robert Haas, Jim Harrison, Stephen Kessler and Jack Hirschman, have come together to revisit or completely retranslate the poems; and a handful of previously untranslated works are included as well. This selection sets the standard for a general, high--quality introduction to Neruda's complete oeuvre.

Pablo Neruda was born in Chile in 1904. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

Orange County: A Personal History

Gustavo Arellano

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The story began in 1918, when Gustavo Arellano's great-grandfather and grandfather arrived in the United States, only to be met with flying potatoes. They ran, and hid, and then went to work in Orange County's citrus groves, where, eventually, thousands of fellow Mexican villagers joined them. Gustavo was born sixty years later, the son of a tomato canner who dropped out of school in the ninth grade and an illegal immigrant who snuck into this country in the trunk of a Chevy. Meanwhile, Orange County changed radically, from a bucolic paradise of orange groves to the land where good Republicans go to die, American Christianity blossoms, and way too many bad television shows are green-lit.

Part personal narrative, part cultural history, Orange County is the outrageous and true story of the man behind the wildly popular and controversial column ¡Ask a Mexican! and the locale that spawned him. It is a tale of growing up in an immigrant enclave in a crime-ridden neighborhood, but also in a promised land, a place that has nourished America's soul and Gustavo's family, both in this country and back in Mexico, for a century.

Nationally bestselling author, syndicated columnist, and the spiciest voice of the Mexican-American community, Gustavo Arellano delivers the hilarious and poignant follow-up to ¡Ask a Mexican!, his critically acclaimed debut. Orange County not only weaves Gustavo's family story with the history of Orange County and the modern Mexican-immigrant experience but also offers sharp, caliente insights into a wide range of political, cultural, and social issues.

Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life

Jon Lee Anderson

Amazon Price: $13.60 List Price: $20.00 Not yet published By: Grove Press

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Political

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 133 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

One of two essential biographies 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

For detailed insight on the dynamics of the Cuban Revolution, the historical context, the complexity of events on an international scale, and Fidel Castro's strategic and political wizardry, look no further. This book is by far the best.

However, in depicting Che's "world" so brilliantly, and by dedicating a third of the book to his youth before the Cuban revolution, Anderson has had to forsake many details and, sadly, some intimacy. "The enormous gesture that was [Che's] life" (to quote the famous song) remains an... incomprehensible gesture. For that extra touch of colour and a more intimate portrait, I would recommend Paco Ignacio Taibo's "Ernesto Guevara, also Known as Che" (published in the same year). Not only does Taibo focus on Che the revolutionary, but also writes, essentially, through his protagonist's own writing. To quote Taibo, "Che's own words... There is no way to approximate that narrative tone, that incredible sincerity, and that caustic sense of humour."

Whilst Anderson dedicates many pages to Ernesto Guevara's fascinating youth, Taibo quickly gets to the Cuban Revolution. Every phase of Che Guevara's life as a revolutionary, including his two ill-fated ventures abroad, is covered in greater depth. Taibo's biography undoubtedly lacks the "scoops" contained in Anderson's book, as well as the vividly-described (and vital!) context; however, it is less "macho", and it offers a more profound portrayal of Che Guevara the man and thinker.

One criticism I have regarding Anderson's book is that he opportunistically picks positive and negative points here and there in the name of "objectivity" (perhaps to make the book conveniently palatable to a wider - read "larger" - audience). In his selective choice of anecdotes he comes across as rather self-conscious and calculating. Conversely, Taibo (like Castaneda in "Companero", another well-known Che biography) writes more spontaneously: his objectivity is not contrived, and he is more interested in understanding Che Guevara, defects and all. But Taibo's book is by no means naïve or sentimental: he endeavours to portray Che Guevara as he would have been seen back then, rather than with today's condescending hindsight (which is what Anderson does).

Another criticism is that oddly, in Anderson's book, there seems to be an entire chunk missing on how the Cuban Missile crisis came about. Was it accidentally erased? And one passage bothered me; "Who was to blame for the shortages? The US trade embargo? The revolution's radicalization that caused the exodus of technicians and managers from the island? The incompetence of the revolution's leaders in attempting to convert a capitalist economy into a socialist one? Yes, all of these were contributing factors". Anderson, who otherwise dedicates so much time to the most intricate details, for some reason does not elaborate on this monumental statement.

Last but not least, the book has been poorly proofread. Spelling and syntax errors abound, some names are misspelled, and, in the final chapter, "Bolivia" has been mixed up with "Algeria". Given the high standard of writing, this is a terrible shame.

To conclude, both biographies are excellent, but only if both books are read. Without one another, they are flawed. Although the crucial details are similar, the authors' perspectives couldn't be more different. For this reason the books beautifully complement each other. Clearly, the many positive reviews for Anderson's book are based on the assumption that readers make that the autor has written "everything there is to know" about Che Guevara. This is not true of (and not possible in) any biography.

[For those interested in reading more, aside from Taibo's book, I would recommend Che Guevara's incredible Bolivian Diary. Castaneda's biography, "Companero" is wonderful: the author is an eminent historian and he provides a masterful analysis. The only pity is that it is less reader-friendly and should be read with some previous knowledge. The much-awaited "Evocacion" by Che's widow Aleida March has just been released (yet to be published in English) and I would recommend this mainly for the poignant farewell poem that Che wrote to her shortly before he died (I am sure his biographers would have loved to get their hands on this). A short but moving account written by Che - "La Piedra" (about his mother's death) - is now freely available on the internet.]

Editorial Review:

Acclaimed around the world and a national best seller with over 250,000 copies sold, this is the definitive work on Che Guevara. This revised and updated edition of Jon Lee Anderson’s biography, which will include new material, traces Che’s extraordinary life, from his comfortable Argentina upbringing to the battlefields of the Cuban revolution, from the halls of power in Castro’s government to his failed campaign in the Congo and assassination in the Bolivian jungle. Meticulously researched and full of exclusive information, Che Guevara illuminates as never before this mythic figure who embodied the high-water mark of revolutionary communism as a force in history.