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This diligent recounting and pictorial collage of interviews with adolescents, the aging, the impoverished and the political by Behar preserves in memory the people and places that make up Cuba's Jewish story. - Publishers Weekly This may be Behar's most personal work.... She lovingly intertwines her own thoughts and feelings with the more analytical observations of her profession. The result: a narrative that tugs at the heart. - Miami Herald Behar's warm-blooded descriptions are deepended by Mayol's lens as he captures her many subjects in their evocative surroundings. Their work does not recapture Behar's childhood memories, of course. Instead, she finds a home on an island of the heart, and in doing so delivers a long-hidden chapter of history to the rest of us. - Seattle Times A fascinating and vital memoir about a rarely glimpsed cultural force in Cuba; both personal and far-reaching. An island Called Home digs deep to reveal new things about the collective soul of the Cubans. - Oscar Hijuelos, author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

"""Traversing the island, Behar becomes a confidante to a myriad of Jewish strangers. Through one-on-one interviews and black-and-white images taken by her photographer, Humberto Mayol, she uncovers the diasporic thread that connects Cuban Jews....This diligent recounting and pictorial collage of interviews with adolescents, the aging, the impoverished and the political by Behar preserves in memory the people and places that make up Cuba's Jewish story."" * Publishers Weekly * ""An Island Called Home is a snapshot of Cuban Jewish life and well worth a read by anyone interested in the beloved but mystifying island so close to home in America"" -- Miriam Bradman Abrahams * Jewish Book Council * ""Traversing the island, Behar becomes a confidante to a myriad of Jewish strangers. Through one-on-one interviews and black-and-white images taken by her photographer, Humberto Mayol, she uncovers the diasporic thread that connects Cuban Jews....This diligent recounting and pictorial collage of interviews with adolescents, the aging, the impoverished and the political by Behar preserves in memory the people and places that make up Cuba's Jewish story."" * Publishers Weekly * A fascinating and vital memoir about a rarely glimpsed cultural force in Cuba; both personal and far-reaching. An Island Called Home digs deep to reveal new things about the collective soul of the Cubans. -- Oscar Hijuelos * author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love * This may be Behar's most personal work...she lovingly intertwines her own thoughts and feelings with the more analytical observations of her profession. The result: a narrative that tugs at the heart. * Miami Herald * ""A nostalgic look at Cuban Jews, now and then. . . . her supple text is supplemented by the vivid photographs of Cuban photographer Humberto Mayol."" * Canadian Jewish News * The book offers a brief historical introduction and an excellent chronology that tell why and how Jews from all over Europe and the Middle East flocked to Cuba in the early years of the twentieth century. This book tells as much about the author as it does about the Jews of Cuba. Behar has spent her life considering herself an outsider. As an academicshe has pursued that posture studying different cultures, hiding her Jewish identity, and wondering where she could take root. In this, her sixth book, Behar reveals the child whose roots are photographs in a suitcase. In Cuba she finds a home. Her tenacity in documenting even the smallest and most distant communities makes this study valuable. * Shofar * ""An Island Called Home is a snapshot of Cuban Jewish life and well worth a read by anyone interested in the beloved but mystifying island so close to home in America"" -- Miriam Bradman Abrahams * Jewish Book Council *"

"This diligent recounting and pictorial collage of interviews with adolescents, the aging, the impoverished and the political by Behar preserves in memory the people and places that make up Cuba's Jewish story. - Publishers Weekly """"This may be Behar's most personal work.... She lovingly intertwines her own thoughts and feelings with the more analytical observations of her profession. The result: a narrative that tugs at the heart."""" - Miami Herald """"Behar's warm-blooded descriptions are deepended by Mayol's lens as he captures her many subjects in their evocative surroundings. Their work does not recapture Behar's childhood memories, of course. Instead, she finds a home on an island of the heart, and in doing so delivers a long-hidden chapter of history to the rest of us."""" - Seattle Times """"A fascinating and vital memoir about a rarely glimpsed cultural force in Cuba; both personal and far-reaching. An island Called Home digs deep to reveal new things about the collective soul of the Cubans."""" - Oscar Hijuelos, author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love"

This diligent recounting and pictorial collage of interviews with adolescents, the aging, the impoverished and the political by Behar preserves in memory the people and places that make up Cuba's Jewish story. - Publishers Weekly This may be Behar's most personal work.... She lovingly intertwines her own thoughts and feelings with the more analytical observations of her profession. The result: a narrative that tugs at the heart. - Miami Herald Behar's warm-blooded descriptions are deepended by Mayol's lens as he captures her many subjects in their evocative surroundings. Their work does not recapture Behar's childhood memories, of course. Instead, she finds a home on an island of the heart, and in doing so delivers a long-hidden chapter of history to the rest of us. - Seattle Times A fascinating and vital memoir about a rarely glimpsed cultural force in Cuba; both personal and far-reaching. An island Called Home digs deep to reveal new things about the collective soul of the Cubans. - Oscar Hijuelos, author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

Author Information

RUTH BEHAR is a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan. The recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellows award, she is the author of The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart and director of the documentary, Adio Kerida (Goodbye Dear Love). Ruth's website is www.ruthbehar.com. HUMBERTO MAYOL is an award-winning photographer living in Havana, Cuba. His work has been widely exhibited in Cuba, the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

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