I received this book on Saturday and finished it Sunday . An excellent, detailed account on life in a Puerto Rican Hacienda. Wonderful illustrations of people of the time and details of sophisticated equipment used in those time. A true picture of how life was then. My grandfather was a farmer and worked on a plantation so this gives light to some of the stories he told me about. An excellent books for anyone that wants to know about their roots and is especially interested in the Ponce area although this was probably typical of all plantations. A must read!!!

If your really into history Colonial days you should really put your hands on this one. It takes you on a drive full of feeling to that era. Im Italian and it made me recall my grandparents village in Palermo... I give Gullermo A. Baralt an A+

(From Planeta journal): This new English-language translation of an established Caribbean classic traces the history of the Buena Vista estate in the foothills of Puerto Rico's central mountain range. Now a living history museum, Buena Vista gained its initial success producing food for the town of Ponce, proving that raising crops for local consumption could be as profitable as sugar or coffee for export. The text spans almost a century -- a time in which slavery ended and technology expanded at a phenomenal rate. This is an exceptional book, one that any visitor to Puerto Rico should read before making an obligatory visit to the island's Living Museum of Art and Science.

This informative book about Kern County is filled with beautiful photographs of the four seasons. They are identified by season in a colorful map featured in the front of the book. This central California book should be viewed by anyone interested in the scenic beauty of California.

Up to date, philosophically profound and provocative, and championing Wenders work where recent critics have turned off and tuned out,this is simply the best work we have on Wenders. Do not be put off by the austere, academic hardcover appearance: this is a stylish, and engaged encounter with Wenders work which, though the writer claims he is no film expert per se, has an intimate understanding of the spatial dimension of the medium as well as the thematic and ideological turn in Wenders work. With the renewed interested in Wenders since Buena Vista, this very informative book deserves a wide public. Let's hope the publishers issue this in paperback.

AWESOME, SPECTACULAR, FANTASTIC, COOL, NEAT, BRAVO, WONDERFUL, AMAZING, BEST BOOK I EVER READ, FABULOUS, NEATO, LOVELLY,UNBELIEVABLE, I THOUGHT HISTORIC EDCATIONAL, HEART WARMING, INTERESTING, I ALSO THOUGHT THAT THIS BOOK WAS BEAUTIFUL. AND I THINK THIS IS A GREAT SHOW TO HAVE A TEST ON. AND IT WAS COOLIO. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am a fan of Wim Wenders' work, and I loved the BVSC CD and the movie, but in all honesty, except for the intro by Wenders and the closing interview with Ry Cooder, the entire book basically consists of shots from the movie along with the dialogs by the BVSC stars and the lyrics to the songs they interpret, i.e. material that the movie and the CD already provide. Yes: I admit I had higher expectations with it. In any case, I have to say Ibrahim Ferrer's monologue toward the end, when they visit NYC for their performance at Carnegie Hall, is a very touching moment.

I recently saw the movie Buena Vista Social Club for the first time and I liked it so much that I wanted to learn more about it. That's why I ordered this book.

At first, I was a little disappointed when I received the book and found out that some of the images were low-resolution digital scans. However, after reviewing the book as a whole, I really got to like it. There are quite a few large high-resolution images that more than compensate for their low-res counterparts.

The book is mainly a photo-album which includes the transcriptions of some of the dialogs and interviews from the movie, as well as the lyrics of some of the songs (all of them translated into English).

One of the only pieces of material in this book that are not an integral part of the movie is the foreword by Wim Wenders, where he describes his whole experience of going to Cuba to make the movie. Very, very interesting to read! The other two are an interview of Ry Cooder with Peter Kemper and the biographies of the musicians.

This book is good to have around when you are having a conversation about the movie with your friends. You'll find the photos and dialogs from all the key moments in the movie.

Buena Vista Social Club is more a coffee table addition than a serious in-depth study, but will prove a 'must' for any prior fan of the Buena Vista Social Club and Cuban music in particular. Photos, film stills and text accompany first-person capsule sketches by the participants of the BVSC group in this companion book to the film.

I am a 16 year old and I still love this book. I remember being 6 and sitting on my living room floor listening to this over and over. Now I still read it when the feeling comes. It is great for kids as well as for kids or adults who haven't quite got out of Never Never Land to Never grow up.