Author Carlos Eire from Bob Edwards Weekend by Sirius XM Radio

In 1962, eleven year old CARLOS EIRE and his older brother Tony boarded an airplane in Cuba and left their parents and country behind, becoming not only refugees but also orphans. The brothers were two of 14,000 children airlifted out of "Castroland" in a mass exodus known as Operation Pedro Pan. Carlos Eire is now a professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University. He won a National Book Award for his memoir, "Waiting for Snow in Havana." He picks up where that book left off, the moment he first set foot in the US, with "Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy."

Download the podcast here. See also: Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy, A Very Brief History of Eternity, Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy, Miami y Mis Mil Muertes: Confesiones de un cubanito desterrado, War against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin

Carlos Eire: A Cuban-American Searches For Roots from NPR Podcast Fresh Air

In 1962, 11-year-old Carlos Eire was one of thousands of children airlifted out of Cuba and sent to Florida to escape Fidel Castro's regime. His parents thought he would be back as soon as Castro was deposed. But Eire never returned home. Shortly after he arrived in the United States, the Cuban missile crisis shut down Cuba's borders, and his parents were unable to leave the country. For the next several years, Eire would be shuffled between foster families around the country before joining his aunt and uncle in Chicago. Eire's memoir, Learning to Die in Miami, chronicles the years he spent away from his family acclimating to a completely new country — as well as his eventual reunion with his mother. (His father died in Cuba.)

Read the full NPR Fresh Air feature here. Download the podcast here. See also: A Very Brief History of Eternity, Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy, Miami y Mis Mil Muertes: Confesiones de un cubanito desterrado, War against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin