Cuba: An American History
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE IN HISTORY
“Full of…lively insights and lucid prose” (The Wall Street Journal) an epic, sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United States—from before the arrival of Columbus to the present day—written by one of the world’s leading historians of Cuba.
In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continued—through the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Raúl Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country’s future. Meanwhile, politics in Washington—Barack Obama’s opening to the island, Donald Trump’s reversal of that policy, and the election of Joe Biden—have made the relationship between the two nations a subject of debate once more.
Now, award-winning historian Ada Ferrer delivers an “important” (The Guardian) and moving chronicle that demands a new reckoning with both the island’s past and its relationship with the United States. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba: An American History provides us with a front-row seat as we witness the evolution of the modern nation, with its dramatic record of conquest and colonization, of slavery and freedom, of independence and revolutions made and unmade.
Along the way, Ferrer explores the sometimes surprising, often troubled intimacy between the two countries, documenting not only the influence of the United States on Cuba but also the many ways the island has been a recurring presence in US affairs. This is a story that will give Americans unexpected insights into the history of their own nation and, in so doing, help them imagine a new relationship with Cuba; “readers will close [this] fascinating book with a sense of hope” (The Economist).
Filled with rousing stories and characters, and drawing on more than thirty years of research in Cuba, Spain, and the United States—as well as the author’s own extensive travel to the island over the same period—this is a stunning and monumental account like no other.
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE IN HISTORY
“Full of…lively insights and lucid prose” (The Wall Street Journal) an epic, sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United States—from before the arrival of Columbus to the present day—written by one of the world’s leading historians of Cuba.
In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continued—through the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Raúl Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country’s future. Meanwhile, politics in Washington—Barack Obama’s opening to the island, Donald Trump’s reversal of that policy, and the election of Joe Biden—have made the relationship between the two nations a subject of debate once more.
Now, award-winning historian Ada Ferrer delivers an “important” (The Guardian) and moving chronicle that demands a new reckoning with both the island’s past and its relationship with the United States. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba: An American History provides us with a front-row seat as we witness the evolution of the modern nation, with its dramatic record of conquest and colonization, of slavery and freedom, of independence and revolutions made and unmade.
Along the way, Ferrer explores the sometimes surprising, often troubled intimacy between the two countries, documenting not only the influence of the United States on Cuba but also the many ways the island has been a recurring presence in US affairs. This is a story that will give Americans unexpected insights into the history of their own nation and, in so doing, help them imagine a new relationship with Cuba; “readers will close [this] fascinating book with a sense of hope” (The Economist).
Filled with rousing stories and characters, and drawing on more than thirty years of research in Cuba, Spain, and the United States—as well as the author’s own extensive travel to the island over the same period—this is a stunning and monumental account like no other.
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Community Reviews
I'm Cuban-American but I was born in the US and I'm a bit of a bad Cuban. I'm fluent in Spanish but I don't drop syllables like you're supposed to, and I vote the "wrong" way. Recently my brother was a little horrified to learn I don't make Cuban coffee at home. I'm also an attorney which is relevant to my review.
This is a very good book about the history of Cuba with two glaring omissions regarding Castro's seizing of property and political prisoners. It wasn't just American businesses that were seized after Castro took power, but regular Cuban families also lost their homes and businesses to the state. Instead of being able to provide for themselves as they had previously done, these families regularly went hungry under rations, from the beginning to the end of the Castro regime. There is some mention in the book about this as though it was an occasional condition but it was not a minor inconvenience to those who suffered it but something that they continuously struggled against. It's easy for those of us with full bellies and closets to dismiss their suffering. As an adult, I wonder if it was culture or food-insecurity that caused my maternal grandmother to force overfeed both my mother and myself as children in the United States. Also, because there's no free press, it's impossible to collect real data on how many starved to death or suffered other horrors caused by the regime. Everyone can read, but all you can read are state-sanctioned lies.
Additionally, almost every Cuban American I knew had a family member imprisoned for being opposed to Castro's regime. Personally, I had one grandfather who served 10 years in prison for opposing the regime. For 10 years he didn't see his minor son, my biological father. It's not something either of them psychologically recovered from. Because of the torture that occurred in these prisons, released prisoners were never the same and often reacted with trauma even to the color green of the prison uniforms. She says of the US Guantanamo base, "Prisoners did not have to be charged; they could be held preemptively, indefinitely, and generally hidden from view. Some were subjected to what the administration in Washington euphemistically titled 'aggressive interrogation techniques.' More than two hundred FBI agents reported abusive treatment of detainees there.” That would also be an accurate description of Castro's prisons. That's probably the central evil of all dictatorships, that there is no law but the desires of a single ego-maniac to retain power.
But otherwise, the book was extremely well-executed.
This is a very good book about the history of Cuba with two glaring omissions regarding Castro's seizing of property and political prisoners. It wasn't just American businesses that were seized after Castro took power, but regular Cuban families also lost their homes and businesses to the state. Instead of being able to provide for themselves as they had previously done, these families regularly went hungry under rations, from the beginning to the end of the Castro regime. There is some mention in the book about this as though it was an occasional condition but it was not a minor inconvenience to those who suffered it but something that they continuously struggled against. It's easy for those of us with full bellies and closets to dismiss their suffering. As an adult, I wonder if it was culture or food-insecurity that caused my maternal grandmother to force overfeed both my mother and myself as children in the United States. Also, because there's no free press, it's impossible to collect real data on how many starved to death or suffered other horrors caused by the regime. Everyone can read, but all you can read are state-sanctioned lies.
Additionally, almost every Cuban American I knew had a family member imprisoned for being opposed to Castro's regime. Personally, I had one grandfather who served 10 years in prison for opposing the regime. For 10 years he didn't see his minor son, my biological father. It's not something either of them psychologically recovered from. Because of the torture that occurred in these prisons, released prisoners were never the same and often reacted with trauma even to the color green of the prison uniforms. She says of the US Guantanamo base, "Prisoners did not have to be charged; they could be held preemptively, indefinitely, and generally hidden from view. Some were subjected to what the administration in Washington euphemistically titled 'aggressive interrogation techniques.' More than two hundred FBI agents reported abusive treatment of detainees there.” That would also be an accurate description of Castro's prisons. That's probably the central evil of all dictatorships, that there is no law but the desires of a single ego-maniac to retain power.
But otherwise, the book was extremely well-executed.
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