Cuba Today

In this stunning book, photographer Michael Nelson captures Cuba-a country in the process of opening up to the world. His full-color photographs capture the mood and sentiment of Cuba between the reopening of the U. S. Embassy in Havana in July 2015 and the much-anticipated arrival of President Barack Obama in March 2016. The familiar images of Cuba-vintage American cars, cigars, a vibrant tropical ambiance-are complemented with intimate images of everyday life. Nelson gives us images of children on their way to school, a man working at a cemetery, soldiers in love, and a butcher flirting with a customer. But it is the absence of what we consider modernity that is striking. When will Cuba join the present? When will the Cuban people be able to enjoy the material comforts almost everyone else in the world enjoys? When will a nation suspended in ambivalence awaken? With a beautiful essay telling of Fidel Castro's broken heart, Louis Nevaer masterfully captures the melancholy of Cuba. This is the first collection of photographs on Cuba published since President Barack Obama's visit to the island nation in March 2016.