As a former Latin American correspondent for NBC News, I knew Havana fairly well. I had traveled to Cuba on assignment on many occasions in the 1980’s and early 90’s to report on political developments there. I had gone to many parts of the island, usually under the watchful eye of government agents, but occasionally I could slip away unnoticed from the government minders. As a result, I got to know some of the historic areas of Old Havana relatively well. But all these years later as I did my research for this book, I quickly realized my familiarity with contemporary Havana was not going to help me too much. Today’s Havana is a far cry from the city as it was in the 19th century.