Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 216
Trim: 6 x 9
978-0-7425-4043-9 • Paperback • January 2008 • $21.95 • (£16.99)
Ian Michael James has written extensively about Latin America as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press. He is currently the AP's bureau chief in Venezuela and was formerly an international desk editor, Caribbean correspondent, and reporter based in Miami.
Chapter 1: Havana 1959
Chapter 2: A Musical Boy, a Beach Idyll, a Rebel Plot
Chapter 3: School, Army, Jail
Chapter 4: Revolutionaries, "Modern Music," Havana Nights
Chapter 5: Bloodshed, Letters Home, a Love Affair
Chapter 6: Razors, Religion, Communist Youth
Chapter 7: A Jazz Cruise, a Mountain Hike, a Prison Tale
Chapter 8: Mariel
Chapter 9: New York City, Campus Life, a Hunger Strike
Chapter 10: Cuban Dominoes, the Long Wait, Freedom
Chapter 11: Weariness, a Reunion, Speaking Out
Chapter 12: Boat People
Chapter 13: Guantánamo
Chapter 14: Facing Castro
Chapter 15: Exile
Chapter 16: Return
Ninety miles away but light years away in ideology, Cuba and Cubans remain fascinating reading. In beautiful prose, James . . . tells the stories of three Cuban expatriates. . . . [He] intertwines their stories, full of joy and sorrow, into an exquisite narrative. Highly recommended.
— Library Journal
In Ninety Miles he takes an interesting approach to modern Cuban history by using the life stories of three Cubans of different generations to reflect upon what has happened there through the years of Castro's revolution. . . . Through the lens of these personal lives the author paints an accessible picture of Cuba in the latter half of the twentieth century.
— British Bulletin of Publications on Latin America, the Caribbean, Portugal and Spain
A wonderful, eye-opening piece of history, and a compelling narrative all the way through. . . . Ian James has captured the angst of being Cuban masterfully, with abundant grace.
— Carlos Eire, author of Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy and winner of the 2003 National Book Award
Ian James tells a compelling story about three people over the course of the half century since the revolution that shook both shores. Through their lives we glimpse an intimate portrait of this history in human terms. This book is a valuable piece of journalism.
— Dale Maharidge, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning And Their Children After Them
Ninety Miles is a must for any reader interested in understanding the realities of contemporary Cuban life, both for those on the island and those who have left. By telling the personal stories of three Cubans—two of them well known internationally, and a third who offers a common perspective—James reveals a picture of life that is distinctive, balanced, and captivating.
— Frank Rivera, author of Las Sabanas y el tiempo