The Land Of Miracles: A Journey Through Modern Cuba

by StephenSmith (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1998

  $4.33

  For a growing number of British holidaymakers, Cuba is a Caribbean paradise, but it is also a land of cutbacks and economic instability. Author Smith went to live on the island, his search for the real Cuba becoming, inevitably, a search for Fidel Castro. Before meeting his quarry, Smith travelled extensively through the land of miracles in an old American car. His account features a bloody initiation into a voodoo-like cult, dining on giant rat, and checking into the Love Hotel. He also describes going on manoeuvres in the Everglades with armed, but not especially competent, Cuban exiles dreaming of a second Bay of Pigs. He investigates a country where communism and voodoo co-exist, and where the influence of its leader of 40 years continues to throw a long shadow.

• Used

  Paperback
  2005

  $3.36

  For a growing number of British holidaymakers, Cuba is a Caribbean paradise, but it is also a land of cutbacks and economic instability. Stephen Smith comes to live on the island, and his search for the real Cuba inevitably becomes a search for Fidel Castro too. Before meeting his quarry, Smith travels extensively through the 'land of miracles' in an old American automobile. His highly-personalised account features a bloody initiation into a voodoo-like cult, dining on giant rat, and checking into the Love Hotel. And he goes on manoeuvres in the Everglades with armed, but not especially competent, Cuban exiles dreaming of a second Bay of Pigs. With disarming wit and considerable insight, Stephen Smith investigates a country where communism and voodoo coexist, and where the influence of its leader of forty years continues to throw a long shadow.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1997

  $3.36

  Stephen Smith first visited Cuba in 1990 on a choreographed press tour, timed to coincide with a set-piece seven hour speech by Castro. Four years later, he returned to a country desperately selling itself as a dollar-friendly holiday destination, arriving amidst unprecedented demonstrations in Havana, and an exodus by thousands of Miami-bound rafters, which made Cuba the focus of world attention. Now, in 1996, Cuba is on the brink, in transition from communism's lonely last outpost to an uncertain future. Stephen Smith explores the enigma of Cuba, a beautiful island of rum, salsa and voodoo, which is hidden to outside view by the imposing, and increasingly doleful, figure of Fidel Castro - the world's longest serving leader.

• New

  Paperback
  2005

  $12.69

  For a growing number of British holidaymakers, Cuba is a Caribbean paradise, but it is also a land of cutbacks and economic instability. Stephen Smith comes to live on the island, and his search for the real Cuba inevitably becomes a search for Fidel Castro too. Before meeting his quarry, Smith travels extensively through the 'land of miracles' in an old American automobile. His highly-personalised account features a bloody initiation into a voodoo-like cult, dining on giant rat, and checking into the Love Hotel. And he goes on manoeuvres in the Everglades with armed, but not especially competent, Cuban exiles dreaming of a second Bay of Pigs. With disarming wit and considerable insight, Stephen Smith investigates a country where communism and voodoo coexist, and where the influence of its leader of forty years continues to throw a long shadow.