By heart/de memoria - Mara de los Angeles Torres

In this moving account of the Cuban Revolution and its aftermath, eleven women who lived through it as children or young adults recall the events of the last forty years. In Torres's words, "This book, which began in Miami, looking toward the island, ends on the island as it gazes toward the exile community." These poets, artists and scholars represent each post-revolution exile generation. Some left Cuba in the Peter Pan airlift, some left afterward, some never left at all. Others like the editor left as children only to return and leave again, disillusioned with both the exile community and with Castro's island. Together they testify to the powerful intersections of memory, politics, nation, and exile. Author note: Maria de los Angeles Torres is Associate Professor of Political Science at DePaul University. She is the author of "In the Land of Mirrors: The Politics of Cuban Exiles in the United States" and the co-editor (with Frank Bonilla, Edwin Melendez, and Rebecca Morales) of "Borderless Borders: Latinos and the Global Society" (Temple).