"There are many writers who think they know the city of Havana. But there are few who feel its pulse like their own heartbeat. Herman Portocarero is one of those rare writers. Unable to sleep at night worrying about Havana’s future, he offers us a book brimming with love for his adopted city, chronicling its shifting moods of hope and despair. Fluidly moving between past and present, culture and politics, memoir and travelogue, Portocarero’s Havana Without Makeup is a stunning homage to a city that casts a spell on all who experience it."—Ruth Behar, author of An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba and Lucky Broken Girl
“Passionate and provocative, Havana Without Makeup provides an uncommonly insightful and empathetic portrait of a city, country, and people steeped in eroticism, eccentricity and enigma.” —Christopher P. Baker, author of Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro’s Cuba and the National Geographic Traveler Cuba and Moon Cuba guidebooks
"[Portocarero is] an ardent advocate for a city electrified with life and passion. Havana emerges as a city like no other: a place where humans, in many ways, are at their most vibrantly human."—Kirkus Reviews
