The Special Period in Cuba was an extended era of economic depression starting in the early 1990s, characterized by the collapse of revolutionary values and social norms, and a way of life conducted by improvised solutions for survival, including hustling and sex-work. During this time there developed a thriving, though constantly harassed and destabilized, clandestine gay scene (known as the ambiente ). In the course of eight visits between 1995 and 2007, the last dozen years of Fidel Castro s reign, Moshe Morad became absorbed in Havana s gay scene, where he created a wide social...