Leaving Glorytown: One Boy's Struggle Under Castro

By Eduardo F. Calcines

Book Overview

In this absorbing memoir, by turns humorous and heartbreaking, Eduardo Calcines recounts his boyhood and chronicles the conditions that led him to wish above all else to leave behind his beloved... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374343942
• ISBN13: 9780374343941
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.7" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Different slant on Castro's regime

We have all heard the negative parts of Castro's regime, but to hear it from small child really hits home. I just couldn't image always being hungry, family members being extracted from the household, and being 'on-guard' where-ever you go. This is a must read to really appreciate what we have here in the the states!

Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children

As a very young child, Eduardo Calcines had the good fortune of living in a tight-knit community in the town of Cienfuegos, Cuba, with loving parents and grandparents, close friends, and economic security. However, all this changed in 1959 after Eduardo turned three and Fidel Castro became prime minister of Cuba. Over time, Castro's regime steadily took away almost all luxuries, many basic needs, and even some fundamental human rights that people across Cuba had enjoyed before the Revolution. Hunger, isolation, and fear became routine ways of life, particularly for families such as the Calcines family who did not join the Communist party and instead applied for exit visas to leave Cuba for the United States. Viewed as worms and traitors, Eduardo and his family endured a series of hardships and grievances while they waited for their number to get picked in the immigration lottery. This outstanding memoir provides a gripping account of life under Castro's stranglehold over the Cuban economy and its people. Mixed into the heart-wrenching descriptions of the difficulties that Eduardo endured as a child are amusing stories that reflect the innocence and joys of youth. Leaving Glorytown will leave readers with unforgettable lessons about the struggles that people experienced under Fidel Castro's leadership and the opportunities that come with freedom.