**New annotations by Aaron Lampman shared in August 2025.
Memoirs/Autobiographies:
- Waiting for Snow in Havana, by Carlos Eire
- Heartbreaking and evocative memoir of the Revolution from the perspective of an Operation Peter Pan child who was forced to flee with his brother (and leave his very wealthy parents behind). Carlos eventually earned a PhD and worked as an English professor in the U.S. ~ Aaron Lampman, Aug 2025
- Learning to Die in Miami, by Carlos Eire
- This is Cuba, by Ben Corbett
- This is my favorite book for understanding the lived experience of Cuba over the last 30 years. The tiniest issues in Cuba can be so complicated that people just throw up their hands and proclaim “This is Cuba” to sum up all the convolutions and contradictions in one short phrase. You’ll almost certainly hear me say this once or twice on the trip (accompanied by a shrug). ~ Aaron Lampman, Aug 2025
- Cuban Diaries by Isadora Tattlin
- Havana Real by Yoani Sanchez
- My Lost Cuba by Celso Gonzalez-Falla
- Dancing with Cuba by Alma Guillermoprieto
History:
- The History of Cuba by Clifford Staten
- Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost it to the Revolution by T.J. English
- This is a fun read if you are into the mafia era. In Havana, we will get a chance to see many of the ritzy hotels/casinos/nightclubs that were built during the frenzy to turn Cuba into an independent and hedonistic mobster nation. The most glamorous one, the Hotel Nacional, is featured in a segment of the film Godfather II, when mafia from all over the U.S. met to divvy up territory. We’ll likely sit in the same location featured in the Godfather II. Aaron Lampman, Aug 2025
- Havana: Two Faces of the Antillean Metropolis by Roberto Sergre, Mario Coyula and Joseph L. Scarpaci
- The Sugar King of Havana by John Paul Rathbone
- Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba by Tom Gjelten
- Remember Tom Gjelten from NPR? That’s him. The old Bacardi family had a long and storied history of Cuban patriotism (think independence movement) and built one of the world’s most important and successful global corporations – before the Revolution forced them to relocate to PR and Mexico. The famous Havana Club rum is basically a post-Revolution knock-off designed to capitalize on the incredible success of the original Bacardi. Cuba libre, anyone? Aaron Lampman, Aug 2025
- Cuba in the Special Period: Culture and Ideology in the 1990s by Ariana Hernandez-Reguant
- Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana by William Leogrande and Peter Kombluh
- Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith
Anthropology/Journalism/Political Science & Other Genres:
- The Artistry of Afro-Cuban Bata Drumming by Ken Schweitzer
- Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Economy by Richard Feinberg
- Cuba on the Verge by Leila Guerriero
- The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba by Julia Cooke
- Cuba: Castro, Revolution and the End of the Embargo (Lightning Guides)
- Tourism and Informal Encounters in Cuba by Valerio Simoni
- Cuban Color in Tourism and La Lucha by L. Kaifa Roland
- Sartre on Cuba, by Jean-Paul Sartre
Novels (and this includes novels that are ridiculous and/or terrible):
- Dreaming in Cuban, by Cristina Garcia
- The Cuban Affair, by Nelson DeMille
- Cayo Hueso/Cuba Libre, by Michael Ritchie
- Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner
- King of Cuba by Cristina Garcia
- Cuba Libre, by Elmore Leonard
- Havana Fever by Leonardo Padura
Other Books
- The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
- A Corner of the World, Mylene Fernández-Pintado
- Our Man in Havana, Graham Greene
- Mea Cuba, Guillermo Cabrera Infante
- Farewell to the Sea, Reinaldo Arena
- Cuba Confidential, Ann Louise Bardach
- An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba, Ruth Behar
Aaron (an avid reader) also adds:
“Ruth Behar is a well known anthropologist and writer. I just discovered her webpage on Cuba. She not only had to leave Cuba after the revolution, but has returned and written a book about it. Here is Ruth’s Reading List for Cuba (note it includes Hemingway, and Greene):”