While esteemed religion scholar Carlos Eire has published many scholarly texts, it is his scorching memoir Waiting for Snow in Havana that brought him to the public's attention and garnered a 2003 National Book Award. As Eire confides in our exclusive interview, "The greatest and sweetest irony of all is this: Readers are thanking me for Waiting for Snow, yet writing that book was the easiest and most pleasurable thing I have ever done."