CUBA Castro Radical Ideology Prophetic Island 1961 Waldo Frank Revolution 1st HC

by Waldo Frank

$53 · Offered by eBay · No longer available

First edition

.no-subscribe { display: none} [contenteditable] { pointer-events: none; } Cuba: Prophetic Island by Waldo Frank Published by Marzani & Munsell, New York, 1961. First edition. Very good hardcover, in good dustjacket in mylar wrapper. Tight binding, solid spine, a few chips and tears to dj edges, previous owner’s signature to ffep, clean unmarked text. 8vo, 191 pages. Cuba: Prophetic Island stands as Waldo Frank’s fervent paean to the Cuban Revolution, issued in 1961 by Marzani & Munsell, a left-wing New York press attuned to radical voices. Frank (1889-1967), an American novelist and critic once lauded as a bridge between North and Latin America, penned this after visiting Cuba in 1959, awed by Fidel Castro’s triumph. Commissioned by Havana for $5,000, it marks his final book, born amid Cold War tensions as the Bay of Pigs loomed, reflecting his late-career pivot from 1930s radicalism to Castro’s cause. The book spans 191 pages, blending a brisk history of Cuba—from Spanish rule to Batista’s fall—with Frank’s eyewitness take on Castro’s rise. It charts the 1959 revolution’s land reforms, literacy drives, and defiance of U.S. imperialism, drawing on interviews with Fidel and other leaders. Frank skims economics and Soviet ties, favoring poetic vignettes of Havana’s streets and peasant awakenings, culled from 18 months of research funded by Cuba’s Cultural Relations Department. The work’s essence lies in its dream of Cuba as a radiant herald of humanist defiance against the cap

• Publisher: Marzani & Munsell
• Year: 1961
• Condition: Very Good

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