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Sto caricando le informazioni... Best Nightmare on Earth: A Life in Haitidi Herbert Gold
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. Herbert Gold discovered Haiti on a Fulbright Scholarship. This was to be the beginning of an addiction to a hellish paradise. For the next forty years Gold traveled between the States and the Caribbean trying this craving. Through Best Nightmare on Earth Gold does his best to explain this curious attraction while holding nothing back. He peels back the layers of politics and corruption to reveal exotic grace and mystery. Papa Doc (both father and son) rule the land while voodoo rules all. Gold's descriptions of the violence, the celebrations, the loves and losses are as vivid as the realities of greed and poverty. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Five decades ago, award-winning author Herbert Gold traveled to Haiti on a Caribbean version of the Fulbright Scholarship. The journey proved to be a turning point in his life. Fifty years later, his attachment to the tiny Caribbean nation-his second home-remains as passionate and powerful as ever. Now, in Best Nightmare on Earth, he explores the secret life of this vibrant, volatile, violent land. "Beautiful...bizarre...dangerous...exotic, a Garden of Eden fallen into despair, a tiny nation of unimaginable misery and unpredictable grace, an island where life is a kind of literature, a world of "unlimited impossibility." This is Herbert Gold's Haiti, a country of extraordinary paradox and remarkable extremes-of gingerbread dream houses and wretched slums, of brutal repression and explosive creative energy. Where else, he asks, can you run into evil spirits on the back roads, or find the goddess of fertility and orgasm represented by a photo of a tap-dancing Shirley Temple? Where else is there such generosity amid such corruption, such humor in the midst of such desperation?In his many Haitian travels, Gold has dined with Graham Greene and chatted with the hated Duvalier oppressors. He has traded stories with CIA saboteurs, former Nazis, rum-soaked diplomats, and voodoo priests. He has taken in the cockfights and hunted for pirate treasure. He has nearly died of malaria; he has faced machete-wielding gangs of Ton-Ton Macoutes. He followed the traffic in Haitian blood to American hospitals and watched the AIDS epidemic take its toll. He listened to the steady beat of drums rolling down mist-shrouded mountains, and shared in the flirting, drinking, and laughter of the streets. He has captured the essence of this land where tragedy is the music the people dance to. Herbert Gold reflects on the country's history and politics, culture and folklore, but sees much more. He sees Haiti through the eyes of a lover: impassioned, jealous, probing, ever alert, and alive. This book will be of interest to travelers to, and people interested in the problems of, Haiti and the Caribbean; and collectors of Haitian art. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)972.9407History and Geography North America Mexico, Central America, West Indies, Bermuda West Indies (Antilles) and Bermuda; Caribbean Haiti HaitiClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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If that sentence doesn't intrigue, I'm not sure anything will. The werewolf this is part of Voodoo beliefs (and the belief makes more sense in the context of Haiti). Voodoo and the earthquake are pretty much what people including myself know about Haiti. This is an engrossing travelogue about a nearby country that seems like it's on another planet.
The slaves of Haiti orchestrated the first and only successful slave revolt. Things have been downhill ever since. The leaders of Haiti oscillated between brutal and corrupt and indifferent and corrupt. Despite being the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and in the running for poorest world wide the Haitians have developed a beautiful and complex culture.
The author, Herbert Gold, has been living and visiting Haiti for most of his adult life. He's translated his experience into one of the most fascinating travelogues I've ever read. ( )