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Comments for Creole Ladies, Marti the Smuggler, Bullfighting

HavanaCreole Ladies, Marti the Smuggler, Bullfighting: 07/11/08

The next piece in Havana is a hack job from Maturin M. Ballou's History of Cuba published in 1854.

This three part selection is made up for pages 77-9 (the Creole Ladies section), 108-115 (Marti the Smuggler) and 132-135 (Bullfighting). As they are jumbled up together in this presentation they provide nothing more than a bizarre "local color" sketch of life in Cuba in the 1850s.

There honestly isn't enough here to write a review. The women of Cuba are simply described by their fancy shoes; Marti the Smuggler is shown making a deal with a former governor, and Bullfighting is briefly but inaccurately described. Taken out of the context of the full text Cuba comes across as a strange backwards place with naive designs on being an outpost of European high culture.

If you're not interested in buying the book to read the full text, it is also available online through Google Books.

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