▷▷▷▷▷ Check Out The Sugar King of Havana: The Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba's Last Tycoon for $11.00

The Sugar King of Havana: The Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba's Last Tycoon Review

"The Sugar King of Havana - The Rise And Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba's Last Tycoon" is an atmospheric exploration of Cuban politics and society in the turbulent years from 1898, when the island gained independence from Spain, through the early days of the Castro revolution and on to the current twilight of that fading system. Author John Paul Rathbone, whose mother was a friend of Lobo's daughters, interweaves family memories of a privileged life in Old Havana with the dramatic biography of his larger-than-life subject to create a story that is both sweeping and intimately personal.

Julio Lobo's father was a self-made millionaire who re-located his family to Cuba in 1990 after being forced to leave Venezuela by a revolutionary leader named Cipriano Castro (no relation to Fidel). Sugar trading was rapidly becoming the cornerstone of Cuba's economy. Young Julio determined to master every aspect of it and master it he did. After managing to survive "The Dance of the Millions", a bubble market that will have the ring of familiarity for many readers, Lobo began building his empire. In 1934, in a masterpiece of market manipulation, he cornered the New York sugar market, a stunning feat that vaulted him into a position of dominance he held until his assets, along with those of his competitors, were nationalized after the revolution.

It's a credit to Rathbone's skill that he's able to recount Lobo's business dealings in a way that's not only lucid but exciting. Nevertheless, he also makes clear that Lobo was complex and cultured, with interests ranging far beyond the mere accumulation of wealth. At one point he owned the largest collection of Napoleonica outside France. He also courted numerous women, including Bette Davis and Joan Fontaine. He was said to have filled one of his swimming pools with perfume when Esther Williams came to visit. At one point, sentenced to death by a pre-Castro government, he was pardoned minutes before facing the firing squad. Later, he survived multiple gunshot wounds from a gangland assassination attempt. Colorful as his life was, Lobo is also portrayed as a modest man, a devoted father, and a generous, progressive-thinking employer. In fact, Che Guevara had such respect for Lobo's methods that he asked him to serve as the Minister of Sugar in the Castro government. Instead Lobo went into exile, first in New York then in Spain, where he died in 1983.

His biographer suggests that Cuba's ultimate salvation may life int he emergence of now, modern-day Lobos. But readers of this vivid, evocative history may come away convinced that there will never again be a true Sugar King Of Havana. -David Nichols

The Sugar King of Havana: The Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba's Last Tycoon Overview

The son of a Cuban exile recounts the remarkable and contradictory life of famed sugar baron Julio Lobo, the richest man in prerevolutionary Cuba and the last of the island's haute bourgeoisie.

Fifty years after the Cuban revolution, the legendary wealth of the sugar magnate Julio Lobo remains emblematic of a certain way of life that came to an abrupt end when Fidel Castro marched into Havana. Known in his day as the King of Sugar, Lobo was for decades the most powerful force in the world sugar market, controlling vast swathes of the island's sugar interests. Born in 1898, the year of Cuba's independence, Lobo's extraordinary life mirrors, in almost lurid technicolor, the many rises and final fall of the troubled Cuban republic.

The details of Lobo's life are fit for Hollywood. He twice cornered the international sugar market and had the largest collection of Napoleonica outside of France, including the emperor's back teeth and death mask. He once faced a firing squad only to be pardoned at the last moment, and later survived a gangland shooting. He courted movie stars from Bette Davis to Joan Fontaine and filled the swimming pool at his sprawling estate with perfume when Esther Williams came to visit.

As Rathbone observes, such are the legends of which revolutions are made, and later justified. But Lobo was also a progressive and a philanthropist, and his genius was so widely acknowledged that Che Guevara personally offered him the position of minister of sugar in the Communist regime. When Lobo declined-knowing that their worldviews could never be compatible-his properties were nationalized, most of his fortune vanished overnight, and he left the island, never to return to his beloved Cuba.

Financial Times journalist John Paul Rathbone has been fascinated by this intoxicating, whirligig, and contradictory prerevolutionary period his entire life. His mother was also a member of Havana's storied haute bourgeoisie and a friend of Lobo's daughters. Woven into Lobo's tale is her family's experience of republic, revolution, and exile, as well as the author's own struggle to come to grips with Cuba's, and his family's, turbulent history.

Prodigiously researched and imaginatively written, The Sugar King of Havana is a captivating portrait of the glittering end of an era, but also of a more hopeful Cuban past, one that might even provide a window into the island's future.

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

Customer Reviews

A Lost Past (2.5 stars) - J. Green - Los Angeles, California
Before Castro and communism, Cuba was a hot-spot for celebrities and wealthy Americans who went to enjoy the tropical ambiance and the booze during prohibition. Political instability and official corruption might have been the norm, but Cuba also led the world in sugar production - and Julio Lobo was the King of Sugar. John Paul Rathbone weaves the stories of pre-revolutionary Cuba with that of Lobo and his own mother's family, whose bourgeois background put them in the same circles as Lobo. He also writes of his own efforts to reconnect with his Cuban heritage from the stories his mother told of her youth and his later travels to the island.

Interesting at times but never really compelling, I struggled with this book. Lobo is the center of the narrative, but isn't always the focus with different stories competing for attention. He was a highly intelligent businessman who twice cornered the world markets for sugar and survived a gangland-style shooting, and also seemed genuinely concerned about the welfare of his employees, yet I had difficulty feeling that it was a story that needed to be told. A multitude of characters pass through the book, and it was confusing trying to keep them straight. The history of Cuba between the 1898 revolution led by America and Castro's military coup in 1960 was vaguely enlightening, but still not enough that I ever felt truly engaged in what I had imagined would be a fascinating topic. It's disappointing to see that others enjoyed it so much more than I did, but I finished the book without any enthusiasm for it.

The Sugar King of Havana - An Important Addition To Books On The Modern History Of Cuba - northhollywoodbookfan - los angeles
In "The Sugar King of Havana: The Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba's Last Tycoon", author John Paul Rathbone writes about Julio Lobo, a nearly-forgotten player in the story of the modern history of Cuba. A capitalist who made his fortune in sugar, Lobo would lose his entire fortune when he left the island in 1960, the day after a fateful meeting with Che Guevara, who gave him one choice - either play with us (the emerging communist society) or get the hell out. Lobo opted to get out, and he left Cuba the very next day, never to return.

"There she is in one faded polychrome, seventeen years old, beaming, dressed casually, sitting cross-legged on a wall, her loafers tucked under her shins." The writing is extraordinarily beautiful and elegant. Some history books are a dreadful bore; this is not so with The Sugar King of Havana. I truly enjoyed reading this book.

Sin Azúcar, No Hay País - Eric Robert Morse -
Without sugar, there is no country.

This book is part biography, part memoirs, and part commentary; it is wholly a national portrait. By fusing the fascinating story of Julio Lobo, the great capitalist of pre-Castro Cuba, with his mother's tale of estrangement from her homeland, the author paints a vivid picture of a beautiful and yet tumultuous country.

It is primarily a social and political commentary, and any scholar of those fields will enjoy this captivating book. Though anyone who loves Cuban culture--the music, the food, the tropical atmosphere--will also love this book. As Rathbone implies, the culture is wrapped up in the politics anyway. To know the Cuban people at all is to know the social and political climate, which has been with the people since its inception. And this is why Lobo's story is so fitting. The social and political climate of Cuba has always revolved around sugar, and so, in a way, the Sugar King's story is Cuba's story.

Rathbone includes countless nuggets of information and anecdotes that make this story an excellent resource for all things Cuban. His knowledge and affinity for the country are well represented on every page--How is Cuba different from other island nations? What were Che and the revolution like? What is Cuba's place in the great ideological battle of the day between capitalism and socialism? This book is loaded with insights into this fascinating place.

The only grouse I would mention would be that the book can be rather schizophrenic at times. Since the author attempts to provide so much information, he often interrupts one narrative to include other perspectives, which may not fit well. This provides a more panoramic view of the country, certainly, but the potential reader might find this style jarring. In general, it is an idiosyncrasy that can be easily overlooked to enjoy the sparkle of an absolutely fascinating story.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 30, 2010 19:13:06

Books History

Monday, August 30, 2010