energy, during Modernism and the 20th-century avant-garde, although books were still produced on a very small scale. As of 1959, the book-publishing industry grew in size and scope in response to a larger reading public, the result of massive teaching programs and a significant and diverse literary movement that can be labeled as one of the most important in Latin America.

RADIO DAYS
An extract from The History of Havana by Dick Cluster and Rafael Hernández
Habaneros of the 1940s and early 1950s lived with their ears glued to the radio. Cuba ranked first among all Latin American countries in per capita radio ownership, and its capital city was largely responsible for this figure. In playwright Virgilio Piñera's classic drama about this period, Aire Frío, a working-class household that can't afford an electric fan in the summer heat nonetheless owns a radio.
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