Pleasure Island

"In her scholarly but often fascinating study, Schwartz examines the changing ideas of leisure and recreation in Havana, the ‘Paris of the Antilles’ to which U.S. tourists thronged for its forbidden enticements and never-ending cabaret. Schwartz’s report is heavily tinged with politics, of course, but high spirits and nostalgia also seep from its pages."—Miami Herald

"A well-researched description of tourism in Cuba, mainly from the Twenties to the Sixties. The emphasis is on American tourists, the most numerous until Castro, and the history is chronological, showing how World Wars I and II affected Cuban industry. Schwartz describes the Mafia influence and the state of tourism since Castro, and she also considers how tourism affects a country, any country, which makes interesting reading. An excellent history that should have broad appeal."—Library Journal

"Pleasingly written and carefully documented . . . [Schwartz] offers a valuable perspective on the present. . . . Today, Cuba’s socialist leadership is confronted with conundrums not so different from those faced by its capitalist predecessors: how to present Cuba to its international visitors, address internal pressures arising from mass tourism, and survive in the shadow of U.S. power. Schwartz details how ‘Cuba’ has repeatedly been reconfigured from the 1900s to the present, while the image of Caribbean exoticism has survived the whims of fashion and a century of drastic changes."—Choice