A third title that will be new to those attending the Havana book fair is Pathfinder Was Born with the October Revolution by Mary-Alice Waters. Also being presented this year is The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning by Jack Barnes.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the book fair, a major cultural event in Latin America. According to fair organizers, this year publishers from 27 countries and 62 Cuban publishing houses will have books on display.

As in previous years, there will also be a number of book launchings and other special events during the course of the fair. Pathfinder will again have a booth at the book fair.

Pathfinder's English-language edition of Fertile Ground will be launched together with a Spanish edition by Cuban publisher Editora Política. In this book, Bolivian revolutionary Rodolfo Saldaña explains how he joined with Che Guevara, one of the central leaders of the Cuban revolution, in the revolutionary front that Guevara led in Bolivia in 1966-67, as part of the effort to build a revolutionary movement throughout South America.

He describes the struggles by workers and peasants in Bolivia at the time that created "fertile ground" for revolutionary struggle (see the foreword to Fertile Ground, by Harry Villegas, reprinted on facing page).

Also during the fair, Pathfinder president Mary-Alice Waters will present a donation of 300 copies of Haciendo historia to the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution (ACRC).

A central task of ACRC members is to help bring alive the Cuban working people's legacy of revolutionary struggle and win a new generation in Cuba to the defense of Cuba's socialist revolution. To aid in this effort, leaders of the association expressed appreciation for the book Haciendo historia and indicated that they would like each of their municipal groups to have a copy of this book to use.

The donation of 300 copies of Haciendo historia will be made possible by the contributions of Militant readers and others to the Books for Cuba Fund (see accompanying box).  
 

The following is the back cover text of the new Pathfinder title Haciendo historia, which Pathfinder will release in early February. The book is the new Spanish-language edition of Pathfinder's Making History: Interviews with Four Generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces. Copyright © 2001 Pathfinder Press, reprinted by permission.

On April 19, 1961, Cuba's revolutionary militias and fledgling armed forces crushed an invasion of U.S.-organized mercenaries at the Bay of Pigs. Their triumph, in less than 72 hours of combat, resounded throughout the world. It dashed Washington's hopes for a quick or easy overturn of the first socialist revolution in the Americas.

The men and women of Cuba who fought and won at Playa Girón were ordinary working people. Most were still in their teens or early twenties. Who they were, where they came from, and the experiences that molded them are the subject of this book.

As the 40th anniversary of the first military defeat of U.S. imperialism in Latin America is commemorated, Cuban generals José Ramón Fernández, Enrique Carreras, Néstor López Cuba, and Harry Villegas--three of them commanders of the victorious forces at the Bay of Pigs--talk of that battle, the October 1962 "missile" crisis, and the other experiences that transformed them, from the Sierra Maestra mountains of Cuba to Nicaragua, Angola, and Vietnam.  
 

In preparation for the Havana International Book Fair, which will be held February 2–10, the Militant has launched an appeal for contributions to the Books for Cuba Fund.

Since 1986, Pathfinder supporters have had a booth displaying books and pamphlets at the Havana book fair, previously biannual and now, as of this year, an annual event.

During the fairs, students, workers, librarians, soldiers, teachers, and others have frequently requested complimentary copies of a broad range of Pathfinder titles. To respond to these requests for revolutionary literature, donations of Pathfinder books have been made to libraries, schools, political organizations, and other institutions in Cuba.

The fund also makes it possible to provide a large selection of Pathfinder titles at the book fair and to sell them in pesos at prices most Cubans can afford.

In addition, this year the Books for Cuba Fund will make possible a special donation of 300 copies of the new Pathfinder title Haciendo historia--the Spanish-language edition of Making History: Interviews with Four Generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces (see article on this page).

So far, more than $1,100 has been contributed to the Books For Cuba Fund.

The bulk of this amount was raised at a Christmas Eve celebration in New York of the completion of a volunteer project to advance the production and distribution of Pathfinder books.

The volunteers, who came from cities around the United States and several other countries, carried out a successful 11-day effort to transfer Pathfinder Press's inventory and financial records to an Internet-based accounting program.

Additional contributions have already come in from Militant readers.

Checks can be made payable to the Militant, earmarked "Books for Cuba Fund," and sent to the Militant, 410 West Street, New York NY 10014.
 
 
Related articles:
Cuban general Harry Villegas salutes book by Bolivian revolutionary Rodolfo Saldaña
New Bay of Pigs books tell of first defeat for U.S. in the Americas
Progress in Pathfinder sales  
 
 
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