Our Man in Havana
Recommended by William LeoGrande, and 1 others. See all reviewsRanked #3 in Cuba, Ranked #22 in Espionage — see more rankings.
First published in 1959, Our Man in Havana is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a political satire that still resonates to this day. Conceived as one of Graham Greene's 'entertainments,' it tells of MI6's man in Havana, Wormold, a former vacuum-cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret agent out of economic necessity. To keep his job, he files bogus reports based on Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare and dreams up military installations from...
Reviews and Recommendations
We've comprehensively compiled reviews of Our Man in Havana from the world's leading experts.
William LeoGrande Yes. What I like about this book is how Greene captures so beautifully the Cold-War contradictions of U.S. policy in the region. Even though the United States plays no role directly, Greene captures the way in which U.S. policy is often so blind to the realities on the ground that it produces disastrous, unintended consequences. The story is, of course, about a British citizen living in Havana during the 1950s, recruited as a spy by the British Secret Service. He has no idea what do to – so he just pretends and makes up information, which he then sends back to London. However, his actions... (Source)
Rankings by Category
Our Man in Havana is ranked in the following categories:
- #47 in Spy
- #46 in The Cold War
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