Cuba Then: Revised and Expanded

by Ramiro Fernandez and Richard Blanco

Richard Blanco (Foreword)

0 ratings • 0 reviews • 0 shelved
Book cover for Cuba Then

Bookhype may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure.

Following on the success of the first edition of Cuba Then (2014), this revised and expanded edition introduces more than 100 dazzling new images that build on the allure of Cuba, past and present.

In the last few years, Cuba has see seismic shifts in its politics and international standing: US-Cuba relations moved toward normalization, the US embassy was reopened, and Fidel Castro died. The intensified interest in Cuba has seen record numbers of Americans traveling there while they still can. In this climate, a new edition of Cuba Then will satisfy the growing curiosity around the country's history, adding to the visual culture and legacy.

With thirty new pages and more than 100 newly selected vintage photographs and pieces of ephemera from the collection of Ramiro A. Ferna´ndez, the most extensive archive of Cuban photography and ephemera outside of Cuba, this book is a tribute to the lost eras of style, glamor, ebullience, intrigue, and upheaval.

The more than 300 images here span the entire spectrum of photographic history, including rare nineteenth century daguerreotypes, cartes-de-visite, and stereoviews. Much of Ferna´ndez's collection is little seen and never published, presenting a rich spectrum of personalities spanning more than a century: aristocratic racecar drivers, movie actors and showgirls, magicians, spies, and campesinos.

With an autobiographical introduction from the author, who was born in Havana, and peppered with selections from Richard Blanco's alluring poetry, these pages take readers inside circuses, concerts, filmsets, and street parades.

From unlikely images of historical newsmakers (Fidel Castro drinking a Coca-Cola on a public bus) to a roster of jet-setting celebrities such as Celia Cruz, Winston Churchill, and Mari´a Fe´lix, Cuba Then is a welcome new edition of this seductive and lush photographic survey of the small island that continues to fascinate the world.

  • ISBN10 1580935109
  • ISBN13 9781580935104
  • Publish Date 29 May 2018 (first published 15 April 2014)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Monacelli Press