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Dancing for Their Lives; Nothing illuminates Castro's Cuba better than music.(Last Dance in Havana: The Final Days of Fidel and the Start of the New Cuban Revolution)(Book Review)
Byline: Malcolm Beith
Visiting Cuba tends to produce more questions than answers. How has the country's unique brand of socialism managed to stay afloat in the face of a strict U.S. embargo? How can the Cuban people remain so proud of their system when they live in such despair? When Fidel Castro dies, what will happen? And how in the name of Che did these islanders learn to dance so well?
In "Last Dance in Havana: The Final Days of Fidel and the Start of the New Cuban Revolution" (272 pages. Free Press ), The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson poses similar questions. Using music and dance as his window, he illuminates a huge swath of Castro's Cuba. "Today all of Cuba dances to live; today all of Cuba lives to dance," writes Robinson. Understanding the rhythms and tensions of Cuban dance is critical to understanding the country. To escape abject poverty, Cubans dance each night as if there is no tomorrow. But dance also serves as a metaphor: ordinary Cubans, desperate for U.S. dollars to buy luxuries like medicine and fresh milk, delicately tip-toe the line between Castroism and capitalism to earn more than their allotted share. Everything in Cuba is a dance--and there is no better dancer than Castro.
For 45 years, El Comandante has held forth on the diplomatic dance floor. He cleverly courted the Soviet Union while breathing fire at the imperialistas to the north. When the ...
- Robinson, Eugene. Last Dance in Havana: the Final Days of Fidel and the Start...
- Magazine article from: Booklist Glover, Terry July 1, 2004 700+ words
...Eugene. Last Dance in Havana: The Final Days of Fidel and the Start of the New Cuban...sociopolitical environment of Castro's Cuba, the real activism comes from the island...Robinson does a fine job of weaving together Cuba's rhythm and politics, deftly sketching...
- Robinson, Eugene. Last Dance in Havana: the Final Days of Fidel and the Start...
- Magazine article from: Library Journal Karel, Thomas A. June 15, 2004 700+ words
ROBINSON, EUGENE. Last Dance in Havana: The Final Days of Fidel and the Start of the New Cuban Revolution. Free...years in power--effect a regime change. The future of Cuba is the backdrop for this fascinating and unusual look inside...
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...Cuba, a fighter for a free Cuba from exile and a staunch opponent...devotion and supreme love for Cuba,'' son Lincoln Diaz-Balart...majority leader in pre-Castro Cuba, formed on his arrival in Miami...anecdote about his father's final days. A woman visited and asked...
