Cuba: Island at a Crossroad: Amazon.ca: Elizabeth Newhouse, David Alan Harvey: Books

Product Description

From Library Journal

Fidel Castro's 40-year stranglehold on the citizens of Cuba has resulted in financial disaster, decaying cities, and loss of loyalty even among supporters of the Revolution. This publication presents a firsthand account of the effects of Cuba's totalitarian government and dire economy upon its remarkably resilient population. Harvey, a National Geographic photographer for 25 years, offers 150 vividly colorful images of Havana and the countryside--including many photographs of 1950s automobiles and crumbling homes, which are common sights. These images are matched with staff writer Newhouse's historical overview, which discusses the country's rich architectural heritage, culture, and social conditions. Together these add up to a sympathetic understanding of what the island is like today. Clearly, Harvey and Newhouse were captivated by the exuberance of the Cuban people. Recommended for a wide range of readers at most public libraries.
-Joan Levin, MLS, Chicago
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Pearl of the Antilles, crown jewel of the Spanish empire, the island of Cuba lies so enticingly close, off the coast of Florida--but, with some few exceptions, we Americans can't get there. That seems ironic, considering how close the ties between the U.S. and Cuba have been since the early days of Cuban independence and before the U.S. embargo against the Castro regime. The best most of us can do to grasp an essence of the island's taste and feel is peruse the pages of an album of truthful photographs such as this one. It is almost a cliche, and often sounds too patronizing to begin with, to make reference to Cubans' "spiritedness." But in Harvey's soul-baring photographs, backed up by Newhouse's understanding text, it becomes obvious that high spirit is indeed a national trait. Cuban spirit is tinged with poignancy, of course, given the various freedoms and materials Cubans lack; but you can't miss the strong will etched on every face, young or old, caught by the camera here. Brad Hooper

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8 Reviews

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3.2 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Evocative Loving, April 29 2003

By

Joanna B. Pinneo (Longmont, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cuba: Island at a Crossroad (Hardcover)

I have traveled to Cuba and I have followed the photographic work of David Harvey for more than 20 years. While neither makes me an expert I do know that the Cuba Harvey captured is the Cuba I saw and felt when I visited several years ago while on a teaching visa. Harvey caresses his subjects with intensity and love. He blends in - he becomes a part of the scene - while not changing the scene. He is both a photographer's photographer and a man of the people. We hang with the saxophone player in Trinidad on page 45, we roam the late night streets of Havana on pages 92-93, we are unseen as we observe the barbershop/front bedroom on page 166. I highly recommend this book to those who love photography, those who love people and want to learn something about another place, to those who desire to sit awhile in a culture other than their own, and to those who simply love images and the gift a fine photograph can bring to your life. It is a true gift. This captures the vibrant yet gentle Cuba of today, of now, not of tightly clutched notions that died 50 years ago.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A sublime work by a master photojournalist, Dec 18 2000

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m_s_ - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cuba: Island at a Crossroad (Hardcover)

David Alan Harvey, long one of the most outstanding photographers at an outstanding publication, National Geographic, has produced that captures well the beauty, spirit, and reality of life in Cuba. Harvey's masterful compositions with his trademark use of strong, vibrant color remind one of Alex Webb's photographs of Haiti and the tropics.

I suspect that those who complain about "dark pictures" have missed the point; the photographer seems to deliberately have exposed for the highlights, leaving his shadow areas to fall to blackness and lending the subjects in his photos a timeless anonymity.

And the harsh reviews that Harvey has "misunderstood" Cuba seem to be misguided on the part of some reviewers. I guess they'd rather deny that the poverty reflected in some of his photographs actually exists, and bash him for merely bringing a non-Cuban perspective to the land they love with rose-tinted vision, rather than address the actual points his work raises.

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3.0 out of 5 stars This book celebrates the passion and sensuality of Cuba but., Oct 26 2000

By

Allan M. Gathercoal "fdoamerica" (Norcross, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cuba: Island at a Crossroad (Hardcover)

Cuba is a visual delight and, with more than 100 color photographs, David Alan Harvey shows you why. Combine Harvey's images of life in Cuba with Elizabeth Newhouse's terse yet thorough style and you have a perfect match for this book.

I have recently visited Cuba and found that Harvey's photography captures the essence of Cuba's greatest resource - the Cuban people. Strong and proud, though materialistically impoverished, the people of Cuba are rich in relationships, music, dance and defiance. Harvey, a photographer for National Geographic, has spent the last 20 years photographing Latin America and is skilled at capturing people in their everyday environment.

Newhouse's chapter on the turbulent history of Cuba is excellent. Without pulling any punches about the glaring deficiencies of Castro's totalitarian Communist government, she writes with objectivity about life in Cuba and she is able to show, with sensitivity to the culture, the strength found in the people of Cuba. "But above all Cuba is music," Newhouse writes, "expressing Cubans' intense joy in life, sensuality and machismo. Garcia Marquez calls Cuba 'the most dance oriented society on earth. And that Fidel Castro is the only Cuban who can't dance, should have warned the people about him from the start.'"

The downside of this book is the publisher/printer's very poor reproduction of Harvey's photos. Almost all of the photos are too dark and thus rob the effect that David Harvey intended. Considering that National Geographic is distinguished for its stunning photography, I called the publisher and asked about this blunder and was told that the printer, not the photographer, was culpable.

This book celebrates the passion, color and sensuality of the Cuban people, and, even with the gray backdrop of Communism framing their existence, and the deficiency in the photo reproduction, the Cubans are still able to shine through the gloom and darkness. Recommended.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars cuba
A colorful well laid out book with good use of photographs in the National Geo style taken by a optimistic photographer with a quirky eye that obviously has a lot of passion for... Read more

Published on Feb 21 2000 by Mr Warren D Clarke

4.0 out of 5 stars A Modern-Day Henri Cartier-Bresson
David Allen Harvey is a veteran National Georgraphic photographer. His style reminds my of one of the most significant photographers of the 20th century, Henri Cartier-Bresson,... Read more

Published on Jan 16 2000