The Reading Warehouse

Back in print, this multilayered portrait of "the violet isle"--a little-known name for Cuba inspired by the rich color of the soil there--presents an engaging, at times unsettling document of a vibrant and vulnerable land. It combines two separate photographic visions: Alex Webb's exploration of street life, with his attuned and complex attention to detail, and Rebecca Norris Webb's fascination with the unique, quixotic collections of animals she discovered there, from tiny zoos and pigeon societies to hand-painted natural history displays and quirky personal menageries.

The result is an insightful and intriguing blend of two different aesthetics inspired by Cuba's existence over the last 50 years in an economic, political, cultural and ecological bubble virtually untouched by the rest of the world, and unlikely to remain that way for much longer. Award-winning writer Pico Iyer provides an accompanying essay for this English/Spanish bilingual edition.