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| Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cubaand Then Lost It to the Revolution |  | Author: T. J. English
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $15.99
Buy Used: $4.99
as of 3/12/2010 21:51 CST details
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New (36) Used (25) from $4.99
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Seller: goHastings
Rating:  77 reviews
Sales Rank: 15,122
Media: Paperback
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0061712744
Dewey Decimal Number: 364
EAN: 9780061712746
ASIN: 0061712744
Publication Date: June 1, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| | ISBN13: 9780061712746 | | | Condition: NEW | | | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
To underworld kingpins Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Cuba was the greatest hope for the future of American organized crime in the post-Prohibition years. In the 1950s, the Mob—with the corrupt, repressive government of brutal Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in its pocket—owned Havana's biggest luxury hotels and casinos, launching an unprecedented tourism boom complete with the most lavish entertainment, top-drawer celebrities, gorgeous women, and gambling galore. But Mob dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others who would lead an uprising of the country's disenfranchised against Batista's hated government and its foreign partners—an epic cultural battle that bestselling author T. J. English captures here in all its sexy, decadent, ugly glory.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 77
 A Little History Wrapped in Sensationalism February 25, 2010
P. D. Frey
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is another Mob book, complete with the requisite boast of involvement in the Kennedy assasination. The sensational and sexual stories are too much like tabloid journalism for my taste, but some of the interesting history of the Cuban revolution and biographical information about Castro is enlighting. I was in Havana five years ago and thought the perseverance of the Cuban people in the face of so much hardship would be the main story. The author brings several semi-hidden dimensions of the Cuba of the mid-20th century to light, and you can probably add some new knowledge to your fund of Cuba lore.
 a fun and worthwhile read February 23, 2010
Marti (Corralitos, CA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Both my husband and I read this book and really enjoyed it. Not only is it well researched, it is well written in an engaging style. T. J. English literally makes the 40's and 50's in Havana come alive with it's mix of politics, sin, and revolution all based on real events and people. Thoroughly entertaining and educational at the same time.
loved it January 31, 2010
Rogue1
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Wow-what a read! I always knew "the boys" had"a casino" in Cuba when Fidel took over and kicked them out-but they had much more. Thier plans for the future in Cuba were amazing. It's amazing that Castro is still among the living when you consider the people he seriously, seriously ticked off!
Good not great January 9, 2010
JLC (New Jersey)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ineresting story about Cuba and the mob. Holds your attention but not a page turner
 Unbelievably badly researched January 7, 2010
T. Smith (San Francisco, CA United States)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
English went to Cuba and apparently swallowed whole everything he was told by the Castro regime as honest truth, despite vast amounts of historical information available to him outside the dictatorship. Why he did this is a mystery. But in the end, it makes this book little more than an extremely well-written fantasy.
What were the real facts? Google "Humberto Fontova" and "Hollywood Casts Cuba" for a point-by-point rebuttal. You'll be astonished.
Just one sample:
"Now let's have a look at English's "research" and how his findings compare with those issued from all sources except the propaganda ministry of a Stalinist police-state. In 1955 Cuba contained a grand total of three Gambling Casinos, the biggest was at the Tropicana and featured ten gambling tables and 30 slot machines, the Hotel Nacional, featured seven roulette wheels and twenty-one slot machines. By contrast, in 1955 the single Riviera Casino in Las Vegas featured twenty tables and 116 slot machines. This means that in 1955: one Las Vegas Casino had more gambling action than all of Cuba."
Read this as an alternate history fantasy novel and you'll enjoy it. Just remember English's "meticulous research" consisted of being fed and then regurgitating "facts" provided by Cuba's Stalinist government.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 77
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