Moncada: A Cuban Story

by Paul Webster Hare

Moncada is one of the first words young Cuban biologist Felipe Triana learned as he was growing up. He was taught to say the word, and he was told that it was not just for him, but for every Cuban. Felipe, like many of the other young Cubans, has known nothing but the fifty-year-old revolution which still controls their lives but offers them less and less. An unconventional diplomatic story, Moncada follows the lives of Felipe and six other ordinary Cubans in the week leading up to the major revolutionary festival of Moncada that's celebrated on July 26. As the day of the festivities draws near, Felipe examines the course of his life in this country. From the economy, to the living conditions, baseball, popular Cuban culture, and the history of the revolution, Moncada presents the essence of present-day Cuba through the eyes of those living there. It gives flavor to a country whose people are deprived of expressing themselves.

392 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2010