Isabel Story is senior lecturer in the School of Art and Design at Nottingham Trent University.

Since its inception, relations between Havana and Moscow have been subject to a number of preconceptions and assumptions. The bilateral cultural relationship is no different. However, in this meticulously researched work, focusing particularly on theater and the visual arts in two key--but very different--periods (1960 to 1963 and 1975 to 1986), Isabel Story both makes readers question Cuban-Soviet relations in general and also gives rise to a rethinking of culture within the Cuban Revolution itself.

• Chapter 1: Introduction and Structure Chapter 2: The Soviet-Cuban Relationship Chapter 3: The Conception and Trajectory of Socialist Realism in the USSRChapter 4: Cuban Cultural Policy, 1959–1975: Diversity and Rising NationalismChapter 5: Cuban Cultural Policy 1976–1986: Inscribing Cuba in the InternationalChapter 6: Staging the RevolutionChapter 7: Adelante el Arte: The Plastic Arts in CubaChapter 8: Soviet Ruins and Stylized Nostalgia