The Violet Isle is a little-known nickname for Cuba, inspired by its richly colored soil–one of the many qualities that make the country so seductive to photographers. This handsomely designed, slipcased edition offers an engaging, at times unsettling document of a country that, for the past 50 years, has remained in an economic, political, cultural and ecological bubble, isolated from the rest of the world (though it is unlikely to stay that way for much longer). The 70 images collected here are a collaboration between Magnum photographer Alex Webb, who captures Cuba’s street life with his trademark attention to detail and color, and Rebecca Norris Webb, who focuses on the unique, quixotic collection of animals she found there. This volume is an insightful blend of two different photographic aesthetics. The famous travel writer Pico Iyer provides an accompanying essay.