Excerpt from My Winter in Cuba The personal pronoun "my" in the title of the present work is explanatory, not egotistical. The "Winter" herein described is mine, and not another's, in that it deals so largely with that domestic side of Cuban life, which few travellers ever see, and whereof none, to my knowledge, have ever written. The reader may find elsewhere more graphic descriptions of Cuba's scenery; combined with accurate tables of her statistics, and profound views of her politics; but he will find no work that opens to him so frankly the doors of Cuban homes, and allows him to watch the inner currents of Cuban life. Nor could the present narrative have flowed thus freely across private thresholds, except by the use of fictitious names. There may have been Samanos in Cuba, but I never saw them there. The real names of my kind entertainers are stereotyped only on my heart. But, with this slight exception, the narrative may be relied upon as strictly true. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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A childhood in a privileged household in 1950s Havana was joyous and cruel, like any other-but with certain differences. The neighbour's monkey was liable to escape and run across your roof. Surfing was conducted by driving cars across the breakwater. Lizards and firecrackers made frequent contact. Carlos Eire's childhood was a little different from most. His father was convinced he had been Louis XVI in a past life. At school, classmates with fathers in the Batista government were attended by chauffeurs and bodyguards. At a home crammed with artifacts and paintings, portraits of Jesus spoke to him in dreams and nightmares. Then, in January 1959, the world changes: Batista is suddenly gone, a cigar-smoking guerrilla has taken his place, and Christmas is cancelled. The echo of firing squads is everywhere. And, one by one, the author's schoolmates begin to disappear-spirited away to the United States. Carlos will end up there himself, without his parents, never to see his father again. Narrated with the urgency of a confession, WAITING FOR SNOW IN HAVANA is both an ode to a paradise lost and an exorcism. More than that, it captures the terrible beauty of those times in our lives when we are certain we have died-and then are somehow, miraculously, reborn.

Excerpt from Cuba Libre: The Age of Expansion The preceding twelve volumes of the real america m romance brought the history of the United States down to the close of the Civil War and through the period of Reconstruction. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.