#atozchallenge: T is for Thirteen Days

Here's to a great AtoZ!

Join in the FUN.


This year I traveled to Cuba. You know, it's that little island that's spitting distance from Florida and should not be visited without special dispensation. I wanted to see it before MacDonald's arrived. I'm so glad I did. I learned a lot and I met some wonderful people. It seems they like us. Now there's a change!

I'll add a short T/F quiz to each post the same as I did last year about Burma, and I'll post the answers to the questions the following day. 



Answers to your T/F Quiz for S

TRUE 1. Today squares are primarily for strolling and finding good restaurants, but in the past they often were places of executions, bullfights and fiestas. The wealthy merchants who lived on the squares could enjoy at-home entertainment from their balconies. Talk about reality shows.


TRUE 2. Old Havana and its squares are now World Heritage sites. And so glad they are. They deserved to be seen by future generations.



T is for Thirteen Days by Robert Kennedy
 
I had a vague recollection of the history during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but vague is probably generous. So I decided I needed to brush up on that bit of history. I found this memoir absolutely riveting. I couldn't put it down because it made so clear just how close we were to nuclear devastation. 

Fate. Some good leadership. Luck. These all played into the relaxation of tension between the USSR and the US.

I highly recommend this book. It's a close-to-the-action account that no history book can duplicate.





Your T/F Quiz for T:
1. Thirteen Days is obviously a U.S. view of the situation, but there are no other personal accounts available to draw from.2. At one time during the crisis, a high ranking member of the USSR military in Cuba could have launched missiles at the U.S.
Answers tomorrow.
Beware the White Rabbit (Anthology: They Call Me Alice), Leap Books, Summer '15
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew