Our man down in Havana : the story behind Graham Greene's Cold War spy novel
(Book)

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Published
New York : Pegasus Books, 2019.
ISBN
9781643130187, 1643130188
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LocationCall NumberStatus
Batavia Public Library District - Adult Nonfiction823.912 GREOn Shelf
Geneva Public Library District - 2nd Floor - Nonfiction823.912 HULOn Shelf
La Grange Public Library - Stacks823.912 HULOn Shelf
Linda Sokol Francis Brookfield Library - Stacks823.912 HULOn Shelf
Oak Lawn Public Library - Adult BiographyBIOGRAPHY 823.912 GREENEOn Shelf
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Published
New York : Pegasus Books, 2019.
Format
Book
Physical Desc
338 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 23 cm
Language
English
ISBN
9781643130187, 1643130188

Notes

Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-328) and index.
Description
"When U.S. immigration authorities deported Graham Greene from Puerto Rico in 1954, the British author made an unplanned visit to Havana and discovered that “every vice was permissible and every trade possible” in a Caribbean fleshpot of mafia-run casinos and nude revues. The former MI6 officer had stumbled upon the ideal setting for a comic espionage story. Three years later, he returned in the midst of Fidel Castro's guerrilla insurgency against a U.S.-backed dictator to begin writing his iconic novel Our Man in Havana. Twelve weeks after its publication, the Cuban Revolution triumphed in January 1959, soon transforming a capitalist playground into a communist stronghold. Combining biography, history, and politics, Our Man Down in Havana investigates the real story behind Greene's fictional one. This includes his many visits to a pleasure island that became a revolutionary island, turning his chance involvement into a political commitment. His Cuban novel describes an amateur agent who dupes his intelligence chiefs with invented reports about “concrete platforms and unidentifiable pieces of giant machinery.” With eerie prescience, Greene's satirical tale had foretold the Cold War's most perilous episode, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Exploiting a wealth of archival material and interviews with key protagonists, Our Man Down in Havana delves into the story behind and beyond the author's prophetic Cuban tale, focusing on one slice of Greene's manic life: a single novel and its complex history."--Book jacket.

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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Hull, C. (2019). Our man down in Havana: the story behind Graham Greene's Cold War spy novel (First Pegasus Books hardcover edition.). Pegasus Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Hull, Christopher, 1965-. 2019. Our Man Down in Havana: The Story Behind Graham Greene's Cold War Spy Novel. Pegasus Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Hull, Christopher, 1965-. Our Man Down in Havana: The Story Behind Graham Greene's Cold War Spy Novel Pegasus Books, 2019.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Hull, Christopher. Our Man Down in Havana: The Story Behind Graham Greene's Cold War Spy Novel First Pegasus Books hardcover edition., Pegasus Books, 2019.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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