“The history of the Cuban exile is a driving force behind South Florida’s vibrant growth over the last 50 years.” — David Landsberg, president and publisher, Miami Herald Media Company
Meet
Emilio Estefan
In conversation with
Miriam Marquez about
The Exile Experience:
Journey to Freedom
(English or Spanish, $34.95)
Saturday, March 12, 2pm
Books & Books, Coral Gables
Emilio Estefan is a nineteen-time Grammy Award-winning producer and songwriter, husband of international superstar Gloria Estefan, and CEO and founder of Estefan Enterprises, which encompasses businesses such as music publishing, hotels, restaurants, artist management, real estate, televisions and film production, and more. He fled Cuba in the 1960s.
In writing his own book, The Rhythm of Success (published last year by Penguin Books) Estefan found that he awakened old memories and “a deep desire for the world to know the history of so many Cuban exiles, who like me, left our homeland in the pursuit of living the American dream.”
Now, he’s joined forces with HCP/Aboard Publishing and the Miami Herald Media Company to publish this groundbreaking, historic chronicle that celebrates the accomplishments of the Cuban-American community. Available in English and Spanish, the book features the personal stories of exiles from all walks of life. Historic images chronicle momentous events, including Operation Pedro Pan, the Freedom Flights and the Mariel Exodus.
The book tells the story of the various waves of exiles who arrived on these shores and features the names of every Cuban who arrived in one of the three exoduses, more than 400,000 names between the three editions. It is a collaboration of well-known Cuban writers: Carlos Eire, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Mirta Ojito and poet Carlos Pintado. Estefan also sought personal testimonials of successful people from different generations of exiles, like the Mas Canosa family, television personality Cristina Saralegui, medical entrepreneur Benjamin Leon Jr., and Perry Ellis International chairman and CEO George Feldenkreis.