Author(s): Andreas Kaiser

Pictorial Books

Cuba is changing. As a tourist destination, the Caribbean island is becoming increasingly popular. In the first half of 2015 over two million holidaymakers came to Cuba - including around 500,000 Germans. But the growing tourism has been changing the island. Nowhere is this as palpable as in the capital Havana. Even now the panorama of the three-million metropolis is characterized by construction sites. Luxury hotels, golf courses and marinas are being built. The morbid charm of the city - the contrast between a glorious past and austere presence fades. In his coffee table book Havana Andreas Kaiser operates this contrast out in all facets. On more than 300 captivating photos Kaiser shows the Cuban capital as a colorful source of zest for life, as El Dorado of the road cruisers and home of the Rumba. But he portrays Havana also as a center of colonial culture and architecture: Once dominated by the different occupiers - later drawn by revolution and socialism. Havana manifests the image of a fascinating city between love of life and the art of survival. A changing metropolis that - as shown here - soon will no longer exist. A tribute to the original, the real Havana."