Blue Cuban Nights

US: Summersdale, 2002. Paperback. Very Good. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Cuba, a country that swings to a rumba beat yet embraces Communism; home to both the Buena Vista Social Club and a repressive totalitarian regime. Cuba is a country of contradictions. Ted Ferguson, in thrall to a love affair with the island since the eighties, breaks out of the tourist bubble and tunes into Cuba's pulsing heart to discover the passions of its people. Opening closed doors, Ferguson uncovers a cornucopia of colourful individuals and their idiosyncrasies. He meets Juan, a collector of pig paraphernalia and Tony, the jazz aficionado of bootleg Dizzy Gillespie tapes. He sees the mausoleums of the rich, equipped with air-conditioning and telephones, and the poor who hunt the city's street cats for a decent meal. Poetry, politics and passion; Cuba encompasses all that is sexy, vibrant and utterly alluring about the hotbed of the Caribbean.