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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, 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.
566 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 27, 2021
2159 people are currently reading
16511 people want to read
About the author
Ada Ferrer
7 books207 followersAda Ferrer is Julius Silver Professor of History and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University, where she has taught since 1995. She is the author of Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868–1898, which won the 2000 Berkshire Book Prize for the best first book by a woman in any field of history, and Freedom’s Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution, which won the Frederick Douglass Prize from the Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale University, as well as multiple prizes from the American Historical Association. Born in Cuba and raised in the US, she has been traveling to and conducting research on the island regularly since 1990.
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October 26, 2022
In August 2022, I could not have told you where the Spanish-American War was fought and would have lost a Final Jeopardy question requiring that I know when it was fought unless I was given the benefit of a 30-year band on either side of the answer. I was aware of US interference in Latin America, generally, but didn't know that our regime-change activities went back as far as 1919 (Wilson!), when we decided to do something about the fact that we weren't excited about Costa Rica's government. Most embarrassing, I had not even the most scant understanding of Cuba's importance to the American slave trade or American investors' perpetuation of that horrific institution on Cuban soil.
In October 2022, I've solved for those areas of ignorance and more. Ada Ferrer's book is one of my favorite nonfiction reads of the most recent 24 months, and has entered my lifetime Top 10 list. It shares -- with The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness -- the coveted title of "Books Carol Most Wishes All Americans Would Read" to understand our history better. Don't misunderstand - reading Cuba: An American History isn't akin to taking one's medicine. It's a clear, succinct, don't-miss text for anyone who wants to better understand either or both of Cuban history or American history.
What it is: one of the best-paced, most compelling history books I've read. Covering 1511 to present, Cuba (the book) tells the story of the relationship between Cuba (the country) and the US across those centuries, from Spain's channeling of funds through Cuba to support the American Revolution, to the relationship between American profits and the slave trade and sugar plantations in Cuba, to the sinking of the Maine, to the the Volstead Act (Prohibition) causing thousands of US bartenders to relocate to Cuba (displacing Cuban bartenders from the best jobs) and American tourists drinking and vacationing in Cuba during WWI when European vacation spots were foreclosed, to the several Revolutions, agrarian land ownership and policy and, yes, ultimately, to Fidel, the Bay of Pigs incident and post-Fidel present politics and economics. It has as much to offer the reader that comes to it with zero knowledge as it offers to a reader who brings to the reading experience robust knowledge of relevant events, and as much to offer readers who don't identify as American as it offers my countrymen. For GoodReads friends with a primary interest in understanding slavery and its connections to American capitalism and wealth,
What it is not: Cuba isn't your mama's research-dump of chronologically-excerpted primary sources, an attempt to monetize material collected for a thesis, or one of the many history books that start strong, close strong, and flag mightily in the middle. It also is shorter than it might appear, given the last 90 pages are references and end-notes.
On a different topic, the authors of nonfiction books are sources of authority on a subject. As of 2022, in US universities, 31.6% of history professors are women and 68.4% of history professors are men. The generally accepted data point on the percentage of women (vs male) authors of popular history books published in the US is 25%. Combining several other relevant data points: male nonfiction readers are less likely to read women authors than male authors, there are significantly more male reviewers than women reviewers, and they predominately recommend male-authored books because that's what they've read. All of which is to say, it matters if readers select, read, review and recommend women-authored popular history books, implicitly recognizing the authors, including Ferrer, as experts in their fields of interest. I read Cuba with the Read Women group (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...) and am glad I did.
I checked the hardback out of my library, purchased the paperback after reading 75 pages because I'd concluded that I wanted to own a copy, and listened to 80% of it on Audible. The Audible narrator is superb, but you would miss out on the maps and photos, as well as the endnotes and reference materials if that's your choice. On the other hand, if those materials aren't ones you value highly, that's no loss. The paperback is not nearly as easy to read as the hardbound. The contrast between the font and the paper is less than the contrast between the font and the paper of the hardback. I had the sense that the paperback publisher needed to hit a certain price-point to break even and had to make some unfortunate choices (for the reader) to get there. Choose wisely.
For more insights from professional reviewers,
access LA Review of Books' March 2022 review here: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a...
and The Guardian's review here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
In October 2022, I've solved for those areas of ignorance and more. Ada Ferrer's book is one of my favorite nonfiction reads of the most recent 24 months, and has entered my lifetime Top 10 list. It shares -- with The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness -- the coveted title of "Books Carol Most Wishes All Americans Would Read" to understand our history better. Don't misunderstand - reading Cuba: An American History isn't akin to taking one's medicine. It's a clear, succinct, don't-miss text for anyone who wants to better understand either or both of Cuban history or American history.
What it is: one of the best-paced, most compelling history books I've read. Covering 1511 to present, Cuba (the book) tells the story of the relationship between Cuba (the country) and the US across those centuries, from Spain's channeling of funds through Cuba to support the American Revolution, to the relationship between American profits and the slave trade and sugar plantations in Cuba, to the sinking of the Maine, to the the Volstead Act (Prohibition) causing thousands of US bartenders to relocate to Cuba (displacing Cuban bartenders from the best jobs) and American tourists drinking and vacationing in Cuba during WWI when European vacation spots were foreclosed, to the several Revolutions, agrarian land ownership and policy and, yes, ultimately, to Fidel, the Bay of Pigs incident and post-Fidel present politics and economics. It has as much to offer the reader that comes to it with zero knowledge as it offers to a reader who brings to the reading experience robust knowledge of relevant events, and as much to offer readers who don't identify as American as it offers my countrymen. For GoodReads friends with a primary interest in understanding slavery and its connections to American capitalism and wealth,
What it is not: Cuba isn't your mama's research-dump of chronologically-excerpted primary sources, an attempt to monetize material collected for a thesis, or one of the many history books that start strong, close strong, and flag mightily in the middle. It also is shorter than it might appear, given the last 90 pages are references and end-notes.
On a different topic, the authors of nonfiction books are sources of authority on a subject. As of 2022, in US universities, 31.6% of history professors are women and 68.4% of history professors are men. The generally accepted data point on the percentage of women (vs male) authors of popular history books published in the US is 25%. Combining several other relevant data points: male nonfiction readers are less likely to read women authors than male authors, there are significantly more male reviewers than women reviewers, and they predominately recommend male-authored books because that's what they've read. All of which is to say, it matters if readers select, read, review and recommend women-authored popular history books, implicitly recognizing the authors, including Ferrer, as experts in their fields of interest. I read Cuba with the Read Women group (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...) and am glad I did.
I checked the hardback out of my library, purchased the paperback after reading 75 pages because I'd concluded that I wanted to own a copy, and listened to 80% of it on Audible. The Audible narrator is superb, but you would miss out on the maps and photos, as well as the endnotes and reference materials if that's your choice. On the other hand, if those materials aren't ones you value highly, that's no loss. The paperback is not nearly as easy to read as the hardbound. The contrast between the font and the paper is less than the contrast between the font and the paper of the hardback. I had the sense that the paperback publisher needed to hit a certain price-point to break even and had to make some unfortunate choices (for the reader) to get there. Choose wisely.
For more insights from professional reviewers,
access LA Review of Books' March 2022 review here: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a...
and The Guardian's review here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
October 25, 2021
Cuba: An American History, by Ada Ferrer, is an excellent history of Cuba, placing the nation and former colony in a wider American context. Ferrer uses the "An American History" subtitle to denote both Cuba's place in a wider American hemisphere, as well as the troublesome history of US meddling in Cuban domestic politics - many in the United States linking the term American to their own country and ignoring the other 35 countries and their many varied histories. The book examines the earliest history of the island, noting its indigenous peoples, and their way of life. Recorded history on the island mostly begins with the landing of Christopher Columbus in the area, and the intense colonization and exploitation that followed. Cuba was used as a springboard for colonizing further into the Caribbean area, and its position near the Gulf Stream, allowing for faster transport to and from the European continent. Cuba, like most Spanish colonies in the area, was heavily exploited, eventually becoming one of the worlds most valuable colonies due to its sugar, tobacco, and coffee plantations. All these plantations were built off of the back of slave labour, and Cuba, much like other Caribbean colonies, contained many residents and slaves of African descent. Ferrer looks at many of the stories and histories of slaves, how they represented themselves, and how they interacted with their surroundings. One of the strong points of this book is its ability to tie in the histories of peoples and places, looking at stories outside of the greater political realm, without delving into the pedantic and questionable that often accompanies many journalistic histories. Instead, this book does an adept job tying in the life of slaves, poorer Cubans, rebels and so forth; those who would not have a voice in official histories, but nevertheless played important roles in how Cuba developed, whether it be through their forced labour in sugar mills, their advocacy in Madrid or New York, their biographies and speeches, or their importance on decisions made by histories "victors."
The other part of this book that is interesting is Ferrer's discourse on how the United States of America affected Cuban history. Early US involvement in Cuba was straightforward and often calculatingly brutal; the US wanted to annex Cuba, and many in the US south saw Cuba as a bastion of hope to continue the slave trade. Indeed, after Spain had officially banned slavery in 1811, more slaves were imported in Cuba than in the centuries proceeding, and those slaves were imported by middlemen from the United States, using ships built in the New England region. Those trips were used to fund public works, political careers, and even Church groups who would co-invest in trading schemes. Many a congressman was keen on slavery in Cuba, and this led to an interest in first ensuring Spain retained hold of Cuba over Britain, who was eyeing the island, and was a proponent of ending slavery. Spain had a more ambiguous approach; forced to ban slavery by the UK, the Spanish turned a blind eye to slave trading in Cuba. This was because the Spanish feared both US annexation if they upheld international treaty, and white settler revolution on the island if as well. On the other hand, after the Haitian revolution, and the Civil War in the United States, many Cubans of African or Indigenous origin looked to both the North and to their neighbours to try and attain freedom. Revolts and insurgencies were common in Cuba up to their independence, with three major conflicts - the Ten Years War, the Little War, and finally, the Cuban War of Independence, fought up to 1898. At this point, during the waning days of the Cuban War of Independence, the United States decided to send in troops to "assist". What would come of it was an US occupation that set up Cuba as a protectorate of sorts for the United States. An independent Cuba would arise, but one heavily reliant on US business interests, and economic exploitation of local Cubans at the hands of a wealthy elite. This is a history that would remain in place until the Communist Revolution and the coming to power of Fidel Castro in 1953. The US remains deeply invested in controlling events in Cuba; multiple assassinations and coup attempts were committed during the Cold War years, and an economic blockade remains in place to this day; a testament to the power of a resentful colonial power shorn of a potential possession. The history of Cuba and the United States remains intertwined; Cuba remains the "dagger in the heart" of the US, due to its strategic proximity to Florida, in a similar fashion to Korea and Japan (this is not my allusion; it has been stated by many a US politician over the years). Therefore, the draconian blockade of Cold War days remains a serious negative aspect on Cuban-US relations. Attempts appear to be in the works to lift the blockade -it happened briefly under President Obama, but was reinstated by his successor, and remains in place, with heavy US pressure both on Cuba, and its neighbours (look at the recent assassination of Haiti's President by Colombian/American mercenaries). Whether US policy or not (I would lean on the "not" side), it is certainly the case that, much like in previous years, where US filibusters (the term used at the time for private Annexationists spreading US control across the Americas) spread through the continent, US adventurers seem to be influencing politics in the Americas as a whole. We have seen US mercenaries attempt an invasion of Venezuela as late as 2020, dubbed "Operation Gideon" - as strange a tale as I have ever heard, and an interesting piece in the ongoing realignment of the US away from the Middle East.
This was an interesting and important book on Cuban history, and an innovative take on Cuban as American history. Although intimately connected to the United States, and with a Cuban/American writing this book, Cuba still possesses a unique history that can be explored form so many facets and is generally understood only in small pieces outside of the country itself. It was excellent to read, and I would easily recommend it to those looking for a good history text to delve into, or those interested in American history.
The other part of this book that is interesting is Ferrer's discourse on how the United States of America affected Cuban history. Early US involvement in Cuba was straightforward and often calculatingly brutal; the US wanted to annex Cuba, and many in the US south saw Cuba as a bastion of hope to continue the slave trade. Indeed, after Spain had officially banned slavery in 1811, more slaves were imported in Cuba than in the centuries proceeding, and those slaves were imported by middlemen from the United States, using ships built in the New England region. Those trips were used to fund public works, political careers, and even Church groups who would co-invest in trading schemes. Many a congressman was keen on slavery in Cuba, and this led to an interest in first ensuring Spain retained hold of Cuba over Britain, who was eyeing the island, and was a proponent of ending slavery. Spain had a more ambiguous approach; forced to ban slavery by the UK, the Spanish turned a blind eye to slave trading in Cuba. This was because the Spanish feared both US annexation if they upheld international treaty, and white settler revolution on the island if as well. On the other hand, after the Haitian revolution, and the Civil War in the United States, many Cubans of African or Indigenous origin looked to both the North and to their neighbours to try and attain freedom. Revolts and insurgencies were common in Cuba up to their independence, with three major conflicts - the Ten Years War, the Little War, and finally, the Cuban War of Independence, fought up to 1898. At this point, during the waning days of the Cuban War of Independence, the United States decided to send in troops to "assist". What would come of it was an US occupation that set up Cuba as a protectorate of sorts for the United States. An independent Cuba would arise, but one heavily reliant on US business interests, and economic exploitation of local Cubans at the hands of a wealthy elite. This is a history that would remain in place until the Communist Revolution and the coming to power of Fidel Castro in 1953. The US remains deeply invested in controlling events in Cuba; multiple assassinations and coup attempts were committed during the Cold War years, and an economic blockade remains in place to this day; a testament to the power of a resentful colonial power shorn of a potential possession. The history of Cuba and the United States remains intertwined; Cuba remains the "dagger in the heart" of the US, due to its strategic proximity to Florida, in a similar fashion to Korea and Japan (this is not my allusion; it has been stated by many a US politician over the years). Therefore, the draconian blockade of Cold War days remains a serious negative aspect on Cuban-US relations. Attempts appear to be in the works to lift the blockade -it happened briefly under President Obama, but was reinstated by his successor, and remains in place, with heavy US pressure both on Cuba, and its neighbours (look at the recent assassination of Haiti's President by Colombian/American mercenaries). Whether US policy or not (I would lean on the "not" side), it is certainly the case that, much like in previous years, where US filibusters (the term used at the time for private Annexationists spreading US control across the Americas) spread through the continent, US adventurers seem to be influencing politics in the Americas as a whole. We have seen US mercenaries attempt an invasion of Venezuela as late as 2020, dubbed "Operation Gideon" - as strange a tale as I have ever heard, and an interesting piece in the ongoing realignment of the US away from the Middle East.
This was an interesting and important book on Cuban history, and an innovative take on Cuban as American history. Although intimately connected to the United States, and with a Cuban/American writing this book, Cuba still possesses a unique history that can be explored form so many facets and is generally understood only in small pieces outside of the country itself. It was excellent to read, and I would easily recommend it to those looking for a good history text to delve into, or those interested in American history.
January 20, 2023
"Todos somos Americanos."
~President Barack Obama in a speech in Cuba, 2014
("We are all Americans")
Wow, this book was tough to get through even though I found much of it interesting. It reminded me why I used to never read history books - so much war.
The first part, beginning with Columbus' failed journey to Asia, when he landed in present day Cuba, kept my attention, horrific as it was what Europeans did to native people everywhere upon "discovering" land that had already been discovered and inhabited.
I didn't realize how entwined the US' history is with Cuba, nor that so many people were stolen from Africa and enslaved there too,on sugar plantations in forced labor camps.
It wasn't just the Spanish who owned the labor camps and profited off chattel slavery, but also Americans. As the author notes, "Cuba—its sugar, its slavery, its slave trade—is part of the history of American capitalism." and "Even on the eve of the US Civil War, the slave trade was also a northern business."
The US wasn't really interested in freeing Cuba from Spanish rule, but in continuing the slave trade even once it had been made illegal in both the US and Cuba.
The author writes well and engagingly -this book won the Pulitzer- and her attention to detail is amazing. However, I just couldn't get into all the war stuff. On and on and on it went.
I found the Revolution starting with Castro interesting. I didn't realize how many Cubans came to the US after he took control of the country, nor how much they suffered under him.
I had no knowledge of Cuba's history before reading this book and I'm grateful for how much I learned in spite of how tedious I found all the war talk.
One thing that entertained me while forcing myself through the war stuff:
The author points out early on how Americans have taken the adjective "American" for ourselves, seeming to forget that it also applies to everyone else who lives in North and South America.
I had myself hung up on that. Every time my interest waned, I found myself thinking how we should say only United States or that we're "United Statians" and the following would start playing in my brain:
"So bye-bye, Miss United Statian Pie..."
and
"United States, United States, God shed his light on thee."
and
Tom Petty belting out "Well, she was a United Statian girl!"
If those get stuck in your head too, you're welcome.
~President Barack Obama in a speech in Cuba, 2014
("We are all Americans")
Wow, this book was tough to get through even though I found much of it interesting. It reminded me why I used to never read history books - so much war.
The first part, beginning with Columbus' failed journey to Asia, when he landed in present day Cuba, kept my attention, horrific as it was what Europeans did to native people everywhere upon "discovering" land that had already been discovered and inhabited.
I didn't realize how entwined the US' history is with Cuba, nor that so many people were stolen from Africa and enslaved there too,
It wasn't just the Spanish who owned the labor camps and profited off chattel slavery, but also Americans. As the author notes, "Cuba—its sugar, its slavery, its slave trade—is part of the history of American capitalism." and "Even on the eve of the US Civil War, the slave trade was also a northern business."
The US wasn't really interested in freeing Cuba from Spanish rule, but in continuing the slave trade even once it had been made illegal in both the US and Cuba.
The author writes well and engagingly -this book won the Pulitzer- and her attention to detail is amazing. However, I just couldn't get into all the war stuff. On and on and on it went.
I found the Revolution starting with Castro interesting. I didn't realize how many Cubans came to the US after he took control of the country, nor how much they suffered under him.
I had no knowledge of Cuba's history before reading this book and I'm grateful for how much I learned in spite of how tedious I found all the war talk.
One thing that entertained me while forcing myself through the war stuff:
The author points out early on how Americans have taken the adjective "American" for ourselves, seeming to forget that it also applies to everyone else who lives in North and South America.
I had myself hung up on that. Every time my interest waned, I found myself thinking how we should say only United States or that we're "United Statians" and the following would start playing in my brain:
"So bye-bye, Miss United Statian Pie..."
and
"United States, United States, God shed his light on thee."
and
Tom Petty belting out "Well, she was a United Statian girl!"
If those get stuck in your head too, you're welcome.
October 17, 2022
The strong, diverse reviews on Ferrer’s book made me chuckle. The comments go from, she’s pro-communist to she’s anti-USA, then she’s anti-Fidel to she’s pro-imperialist.
Personally, I think Ferrar wrote a very objective account of the relationship between Cuba and the U.S. It may be a bitter pill to swallow for U.S. readers but often the best medicine isn’t sweet. In that respect it’s a must read for every federal politician to understand how Cuba got to where she is today and how important it is for the U.S. understand the history of a nation and the needs of the people.
For a book that started somewhat condescending (did she really think anyone born after the mid-20th century thought Columbus landed first on USA soil or that we think our nation is called America?) it then became a thorough evaluation of U.S. actions on the Island. After that rough start, her dissection of the history of Cuba beginning as a Spanish territory, through slavery, the Platt Amendment, Batista, Fidel, the Bay of Pigs, the Mariel boatlift, and the current social and economic Cuban situation, is an eye opening work of importance.
Personally, I think Ferrar wrote a very objective account of the relationship between Cuba and the U.S. It may be a bitter pill to swallow for U.S. readers but often the best medicine isn’t sweet. In that respect it’s a must read for every federal politician to understand how Cuba got to where she is today and how important it is for the U.S. understand the history of a nation and the needs of the people.
For a book that started somewhat condescending (did she really think anyone born after the mid-20th century thought Columbus landed first on USA soil or that we think our nation is called America?) it then became a thorough evaluation of U.S. actions on the Island. After that rough start, her dissection of the history of Cuba beginning as a Spanish territory, through slavery, the Platt Amendment, Batista, Fidel, the Bay of Pigs, the Mariel boatlift, and the current social and economic Cuban situation, is an eye opening work of importance.
January 2, 2023
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.
September 24, 2022
In my last year at NYU, I took a 2 credit course wherein a different faculty member would come in once a week to lecture on a news item of their choosing. Ada Ferrer, the author of Cuba: An American History, came in to lecture on the 2021 protests and Cuban migration. I found her evenhanded, personable, and extremely knowledgeable, and thus logged her newly published book as a future read.
Almost a year later, I read it (after receiving it as a gift). I came away with mixed emotions. It is an interesting work of paperback history, written in a common engaging and informative style that I appreciate. Ferrer nobly attempts to tell a story of a place through its masses, focusing on regular people and representatives at every turn and shying from singular representatives (great man theory, etc.). This style, while certainly limited by the historical era, pays dividends, and she stays on pace through the litany of colonial atrocity that makes up any American (broad sense) history.
The trouble comes, as it always does, when she gets to Fidel and the 1959 Revolution. While her focus had strayed toward personal history and interests before (there is a focus on personal Catholicism that belies a positive bias), the line she tries to walk when describing the years since Moncada is an obviously untenable one (and more strikingly one that can only really be held by the liberal academic daughter of conservative anti-Castro exiles). She can see, as a historian, the massive social factors that delivered Fidel Castro and the Revolution, and what changes exactly he represented. She can acknowledge his successes and place blame at the feet of his opponents. But she can not overcome an ingrained personal resentment of him that comes out at inexplicable times and in odd ways. She one ups quotes from him with needless rephrasing. She relies on the old anti-Communist trick of replacing a genuine movement of regular people who support or are supported by the government (in one notable case a group of unionizing newspaper workers!) with ‘the government’... even after just detailing, with a hint of support, the success of said people. Because of this then, she struggles to view Fidel’s actions with either the neutral historical perspective of the genre or the fawning profiles she confers onto previous Great Men of the island like Antonio Maceo and Jose Marti. Why does the violence committed by these men, the bold promises and restrictions on rights in wartime of their era, get an ideological pass when the Revolution’s does not? Obviously there is a desire to appeal to or otherwise “tell” the story of the portion of Cubans who have fled the country since the 50s- but why sacrifice a consistent historical tone and style on their behalf?
This book is a liberal history, for all the benefits and flaws that confers. The liberal focus on individuals successfully creates emotional stakes and enrapturing narratives that avoid much of the tediousness of the historical genre’s classical style. But it can also leave its writers gullible to a world and a story that does not truly exist, hijacked by bad faith actors and ideologies they do not fully endorse. I do not pretend to know more about Cuba than Ms. Ferrer on a scale of true information or raw emotion. But I can spot an ideological inconsistency, and there is one central to the latter half of this book: having constructed a history lionizing the fight against imperialism as the central premise of Cuba’s history, she can not then square that that also means fighting capital- and everything that comes with it. That is the materialist notion Fidel held so near- and while she briefly engages with the tragedy of the failure of the Cuban government to hold that line since the Special Period, she doesn’t interrogate what that means for post colonial nations like Cuba.
The Cold War was fought in academia as brutally as it was fought anywhere else. The result is that, while modern historians can narrativize the history of class struggle in a nation with precision, empathy, and gravity, they can not truly elucidate the present. Too many modern factors muddy the waters to reveal the Cuban Revolution as it was; the next step of decolonization, in a centuries long line Ferrer so expertly lays out. This likely means something incredibly poignant: history likely will, when the Cold War mindset finally recedes, absolve Fidel (or at the very least give him and his movement a fair shake). It is a shame this book could not get there first.
Edit: I see some of the rabidly anti-Castro reviews and understand the environment is such that this book may be the closest historical work to come close to that aforementioned fair shake. Unfortunate.
Almost a year later, I read it (after receiving it as a gift). I came away with mixed emotions. It is an interesting work of paperback history, written in a common engaging and informative style that I appreciate. Ferrer nobly attempts to tell a story of a place through its masses, focusing on regular people and representatives at every turn and shying from singular representatives (great man theory, etc.). This style, while certainly limited by the historical era, pays dividends, and she stays on pace through the litany of colonial atrocity that makes up any American (broad sense) history.
The trouble comes, as it always does, when she gets to Fidel and the 1959 Revolution. While her focus had strayed toward personal history and interests before (there is a focus on personal Catholicism that belies a positive bias), the line she tries to walk when describing the years since Moncada is an obviously untenable one (and more strikingly one that can only really be held by the liberal academic daughter of conservative anti-Castro exiles). She can see, as a historian, the massive social factors that delivered Fidel Castro and the Revolution, and what changes exactly he represented. She can acknowledge his successes and place blame at the feet of his opponents. But she can not overcome an ingrained personal resentment of him that comes out at inexplicable times and in odd ways. She one ups quotes from him with needless rephrasing. She relies on the old anti-Communist trick of replacing a genuine movement of regular people who support or are supported by the government (in one notable case a group of unionizing newspaper workers!) with ‘the government’... even after just detailing, with a hint of support, the success of said people. Because of this then, she struggles to view Fidel’s actions with either the neutral historical perspective of the genre or the fawning profiles she confers onto previous Great Men of the island like Antonio Maceo and Jose Marti. Why does the violence committed by these men, the bold promises and restrictions on rights in wartime of their era, get an ideological pass when the Revolution’s does not? Obviously there is a desire to appeal to or otherwise “tell” the story of the portion of Cubans who have fled the country since the 50s- but why sacrifice a consistent historical tone and style on their behalf?
This book is a liberal history, for all the benefits and flaws that confers. The liberal focus on individuals successfully creates emotional stakes and enrapturing narratives that avoid much of the tediousness of the historical genre’s classical style. But it can also leave its writers gullible to a world and a story that does not truly exist, hijacked by bad faith actors and ideologies they do not fully endorse. I do not pretend to know more about Cuba than Ms. Ferrer on a scale of true information or raw emotion. But I can spot an ideological inconsistency, and there is one central to the latter half of this book: having constructed a history lionizing the fight against imperialism as the central premise of Cuba’s history, she can not then square that that also means fighting capital- and everything that comes with it. That is the materialist notion Fidel held so near- and while she briefly engages with the tragedy of the failure of the Cuban government to hold that line since the Special Period, she doesn’t interrogate what that means for post colonial nations like Cuba.
The Cold War was fought in academia as brutally as it was fought anywhere else. The result is that, while modern historians can narrativize the history of class struggle in a nation with precision, empathy, and gravity, they can not truly elucidate the present. Too many modern factors muddy the waters to reveal the Cuban Revolution as it was; the next step of decolonization, in a centuries long line Ferrer so expertly lays out. This likely means something incredibly poignant: history likely will, when the Cold War mindset finally recedes, absolve Fidel (or at the very least give him and his movement a fair shake). It is a shame this book could not get there first.
Edit: I see some of the rabidly anti-Castro reviews and understand the environment is such that this book may be the closest historical work to come close to that aforementioned fair shake. Unfortunate.
June 8, 2021
I had minimal knowledge of Cuba's turbulent history, so I appreciated Edelweiss giving me the opportunity to read and review this well-researched book. Cuba, sadly shares history with some other countries: native culture destroyed by greedy Europeans, slavery, and ill-advised and presumptuous US intervention. Many were delighted when Castro got rid of the evil Battista, but life in Cuba has never been easy, and when Cubans could no longer rely on the Soviet Union's help, things got even more challenging.
December 9, 2022
I have issues and concerns about what isn't in this book. First of all, the expatriate community from Cuba is worthy of more attention. Their history is equally important, it is not even breezed over in this history. Secondly, the transition in the narrative from Fidel becoming a revolutionary who was not communist to becoming openly communist was breezed over. Some discussion of the type of communism involved in his plan and in the development of Cuba as an independent (?) nation would have been useful. The word "communist " is not enough. Communism plays out differently in different countries, from southeast Asia to Cuba to eastern Europe,,,discussion and explanation needed. In ms. Ferrer's description of Castro's takeover what we would call "lynchings" in which people were lined up and shot without what we would call "due process" are glorified. I would say those person's rights were violated,,,,nothing glorious here at all. Glossed over that one. Sorry, I grew up with a fatherless boy whose father was executed so Castro could maintain HIS brand of power and not share it. I worked with someone from West Africa who explained to me that Cuban medical teams sterilized women in West AFrica and the Azores with their knowledge and consent under th guise of providing maternity care,,,that is significant and deserves mention. I would not glorify those Cuban medical services for a second . This book is significant in what it does NOT mention.
February 28, 2023
I am going to make this review short, otherwise I might go on a rant that might be highly disturbing to a number of friends, family, and acquaintances, and I am simply not in the mood to have to deal with any of it.
If one is interested in learning about the history of Cuba, from the time that great explorer Christopher Columbus, landed on the island back in 1493, to the present day then this is most definitely a book for you.
Ms. Ada has done a wonderful job chronicling the history of Cuba and its relationship with the United States. The title, "An American History, Cuba," might be a little confusing because when one thinks of America, one usually associates it with the United States. But the United States is just one territory in the American hemisphere, that also includes Cuba, Mexico, Haiti, etc.
If one is interested in learning about the history of Cuba, from the time that great explorer Christopher Columbus, landed on the island back in 1493, to the present day then this is most definitely a book for you.
Ms. Ada has done a wonderful job chronicling the history of Cuba and its relationship with the United States. The title, "An American History, Cuba," might be a little confusing because when one thinks of America, one usually associates it with the United States. But the United States is just one territory in the American hemisphere, that also includes Cuba, Mexico, Haiti, etc.
January 25, 2022
I’ve just finished reading what, by any measure, is one of the finest books of history and really of writing of any kind. I came to it based on the recommendation of Professor David Blight. Seeing that it ran over 470 pages, I wondered whether it would be worth the time. It couldn’t have been more worth it.
The book is riveting, nuanced and insightful. It tells the complex history of this island superbly. It never loses the engagement and appeal of a driving, personal narrative.
The author, Ada Ferrer, draws sober and sensitive judgments and interpretations on the role of individuals and the roles of movements and different nations. It reveals the role of imperialism (Spanish, U.S., British, and Soviet), slavery, race, socialism and Communism. It bring to life innumerable characters, heroes of Cuban history, including Jose Marti (who put forward a vision of racial harmony and transcendence) and tragically was killed before the age of 40; Carlo Manuel de Cespedes and General Maceo, all of whom led brave though ultimately inconclusive revolutions and war against the Spanish.
Ferrer has a remarkable ability to convey history in a deeply personal way (she was born and raised in Cuba) but also has a way of conveying broadly relevant principles and realities. Consider this: “A long historian of other revolutions once suggested that the intensity of a revolution could be calculated objectively, dispassionately. How? By counting the number of people who fled it. In Cuba, a lot of people left. The first year, more than 25,000 did; another 60,000 did the second. By late 1960, 1,500 Cubans were arriving in the U.S. every week and, by late 1961, with the embassy in Havana already closed, an astounding 1,200 people per working day were applying for entry. Between the Cuban Revolution in January 1959 and the Missile Crisis of October 1962, nearly one-quarter of a million people left.”
She goes on to observe with deep insight: Miami as a city was transformed by Cuba’s presence. Yet, Cuban migration to that city transformed Cuba as well; it has served as a central force in the history of the Cuban revolution writ large. “The possibility of leaving, or of being left, became part of everyday life; a choice to be made, family member by family member.”
Ferrer’s judgment and prose filled me with admiration and often sheer awe as I experienced the precision of her insights and the balance of her judgment.
The book revealed fact after fact little known to me. I came to this history with the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis and the ascendance of Castro present in my mind. How little I really knew. How much I learned.
The book is riveting, nuanced and insightful. It tells the complex history of this island superbly. It never loses the engagement and appeal of a driving, personal narrative.
The author, Ada Ferrer, draws sober and sensitive judgments and interpretations on the role of individuals and the roles of movements and different nations. It reveals the role of imperialism (Spanish, U.S., British, and Soviet), slavery, race, socialism and Communism. It bring to life innumerable characters, heroes of Cuban history, including Jose Marti (who put forward a vision of racial harmony and transcendence) and tragically was killed before the age of 40; Carlo Manuel de Cespedes and General Maceo, all of whom led brave though ultimately inconclusive revolutions and war against the Spanish.
Ferrer has a remarkable ability to convey history in a deeply personal way (she was born and raised in Cuba) but also has a way of conveying broadly relevant principles and realities. Consider this: “A long historian of other revolutions once suggested that the intensity of a revolution could be calculated objectively, dispassionately. How? By counting the number of people who fled it. In Cuba, a lot of people left. The first year, more than 25,000 did; another 60,000 did the second. By late 1960, 1,500 Cubans were arriving in the U.S. every week and, by late 1961, with the embassy in Havana already closed, an astounding 1,200 people per working day were applying for entry. Between the Cuban Revolution in January 1959 and the Missile Crisis of October 1962, nearly one-quarter of a million people left.”
She goes on to observe with deep insight: Miami as a city was transformed by Cuba’s presence. Yet, Cuban migration to that city transformed Cuba as well; it has served as a central force in the history of the Cuban revolution writ large. “The possibility of leaving, or of being left, became part of everyday life; a choice to be made, family member by family member.”
Ferrer’s judgment and prose filled me with admiration and often sheer awe as I experienced the precision of her insights and the balance of her judgment.
The book revealed fact after fact little known to me. I came to this history with the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis and the ascendance of Castro present in my mind. How little I really knew. How much I learned.
February 12, 2022
4 stars for historic detail and reasonably interesting reading. 1 star for impartial professional observation. The author has obviously developed her theory of Cuba’s history and come to the conclusion it’s history and current situation are all due to caucasians and the U.S. in my opinion, the book is written with that bias in mind and with an objective of putting everything in that light.
January 29, 2023
Well written. I appreciate the historical facts. The overall tone of the story, however, reveals the deep bias of the author. Throughout the book, the descriptions, adjectives, adverbs, assertions, assumptions, and presumed causes and effects suggest the heroic gloriousness of the Cuban peoples, while denigrating the contributions of “imperialists”. Racial envy shows up in every chapter. It was challenging to put up with the overt worship of the socialist/communist “revolutions”, and the changes made thereafter. When post-revolution Cuban government efforts appear to be positive, Cuban socialism is going to set the example for the entire world (in contrast to the villainous U.S.). But when the efforts fail, blame it on the villainous U.S. The overall impression of the book, to me, is a racially divisive blame game. Cuba the Victim.
The Haiti revolution was referenced as an example for the Cuban revolution- you know, Haiti- the beacon of freedom, liberty, and paradisiacal socialism. How’d that work out?
And, OMG, Fidels minions even travelled to faraway Angola to help free the population and put them on the road to socialist utopia. How’d that work out?
There you are: Cuba, Haiti, and Angola, three outstanding examples of independent human achievement. Wow.
There’s a reason why Cubans risk their lives to get to the U.S. It’s not because Cuba is so good, and America is so bad, as the author repeatedly implies. The fact is, the great people of Cuba would have been much better off if Cuba had become part of the U.S. in the 19th century. Think about it.
The Haiti revolution was referenced as an example for the Cuban revolution- you know, Haiti- the beacon of freedom, liberty, and paradisiacal socialism. How’d that work out?
And, OMG, Fidels minions even travelled to faraway Angola to help free the population and put them on the road to socialist utopia. How’d that work out?
There you are: Cuba, Haiti, and Angola, three outstanding examples of independent human achievement. Wow.
There’s a reason why Cubans risk their lives to get to the U.S. It’s not because Cuba is so good, and America is so bad, as the author repeatedly implies. The fact is, the great people of Cuba would have been much better off if Cuba had become part of the U.S. in the 19th century. Think about it.
May 7, 2023
Trainwreck. Scattered and disjointed, woke, all over the place. How did this book win a Pulitzer Prize…? Almost no redeeming virtue here apart from the first few chapters, where the author offered a thought-provoking discussion on the United States’s ironic and confusing infatuation with Columbus. Ferrer thinks herself an heir to Howard Zinn, but produces a product akin to a museum brochure. The entire volume felt like a superficial book jacket summary.
December 8, 2022
Cuba and the United States have been inextricably linked over the centuries. This longstanding and often uneven linkage has been fraught with mistrust, assaults, insults, exploitation, and vastly divergent political paths. Ada Ferrer uses this relationship as a framework for her excellent history of Cuba, ranging from the time of Columbus to the present. In addition, she chose to highlight not just national or government entities in the telling of Cuba’s history, but focused on individuals and their stories, putting people at the center, both famous figures as well as all of those nameless ones caught up in the events.
Prior to reading the book, I knew very little about Cuba’s role in America’s slave trade and the ultimate outcome of the U.S. Revolutionary War. Likewise, Cuba’s leaders and heroes during their long struggle for independence from Spain were new names for me, as were the line of revolutionary leaders in and out of power up to the unseating of Batista and the rise of Fidel Castro. I found Castro’s rise to power and years of rule especially riveting since most of my knowledge of Cuba exists within the frame of the Castro years. It was stunning to read that Cuba wasn’t even represented in the 1898 Treaty of Paris following the Spanish American War and that they were again left out of negotiations between Kennedy and Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
This is such an interesting and enlightening read, made even more so by Ferrer’s clear, focused writing and excellent analysis. I highly recommend this Pulitzer Prize winning history.
Prior to reading the book, I knew very little about Cuba’s role in America’s slave trade and the ultimate outcome of the U.S. Revolutionary War. Likewise, Cuba’s leaders and heroes during their long struggle for independence from Spain were new names for me, as were the line of revolutionary leaders in and out of power up to the unseating of Batista and the rise of Fidel Castro. I found Castro’s rise to power and years of rule especially riveting since most of my knowledge of Cuba exists within the frame of the Castro years. It was stunning to read that Cuba wasn’t even represented in the 1898 Treaty of Paris following the Spanish American War and that they were again left out of negotiations between Kennedy and Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
This is such an interesting and enlightening read, made even more so by Ferrer’s clear, focused writing and excellent analysis. I highly recommend this Pulitzer Prize winning history.
December 14, 2022
As a Cuban American, born in 1959 Havana to parents who protested against the Batista regime on the steps of the University of Havana and celebrated Fidel’s early revolutionary victory in the city streets, prior to my birth. Who were subsequently imprisoned by 1961 for their association with a movement to recover a revolution that had betrayed its objective of restoring a national constitution to its people along with its freedoms. We were lucky to have been evacuated with the assistance of the United States in late 1961. That said I was anxious to read this book in hopes of gaining information on my history and in particular, from the Pulitzer Prize winning author. I was disappointed, knowing that only part of the story is being told. The usual one. The one where the United States is to blame for all the corruption, nepotism, racism, and exploitation that has occurred in the nearly the last 300 years. Sure why not want association and some control of a large landmass that protects the entry to the entire gulf shore of your fledgling nation. I do not know what it was like to grow up and live in post revolutionary Cuba and its ideology. I truly feel for the Cuban people and their subjugation these last 60 years, (half of its independent existence) but I do not feel that this book truly helps to explain the motivations and actions between these two countries. it only highlights those excesses that tend to win points with the Pulitzer-like organizations. Who knows perhaps an honest balanced discussion may someday lead us to greater more productive dialog. Let’s hope.
October 10, 2021
Ferrer's volume seems to indicate that the history of Cuba almost cannot be told without relating all its phases to the history of the USA. It makes for interesting reading, but may not be totally fair to those Cuban "purists" if such exist. The relations between Africans in the two countries is a telling story all its own. The complaint early in the work about European colonization then seems to ring a bit hollow as there seems little history (of Cuba) without there having been that colonization.
October 31, 2025
Sometimes it's a bit hard to understand why a book won a prize but at other times it's easy to understand. And reading this book was one of the later instances. It reads easy, is written well and very movingly and has a perfect balance between the big trends of history and smaller events that perfectly illustrate the issues of Cuban history.
There are a lot of reasons why I like this book so much but I will pick 2 big one's.
One of the focuses of the book is the strong connection between Cuba and the United States for good or ill. This wasn't something that just happened in the 20th century but is kinda a constant through their history: from the contact of Native Americans from Cuba and the USA, to the US support for slavery in Cuba, to the presence of many Cuban exiles and radicals in the US, etc... This interconnectedness and messy relationship between the 2 countries is very compellingly portrayed and fascinating to think about.
The other big positive reason is that this is very much a book about the Cuban people in action. Sure, the big names of history get their due: José Marti, Castro, Batista, US presidents,... but they never control the narrative as they in real life never completely controlled the real life events. We get focus on slaves rebelling against the slave system, a mixed racial people fighting against an imperial power, a civil society in all it's different forms resisting a dictator , people of all different classes leaving Cuba for a better life,... The Cuban people in all it's forms, good and ill, and their quest for freedom stand central in this book and that's great. I would recommend this to anyone who has even a passing interest in Cuban and/or American history
There are a lot of reasons why I like this book so much but I will pick 2 big one's.
One of the focuses of the book is the strong connection between Cuba and the United States for good or ill. This wasn't something that just happened in the 20th century but is kinda a constant through their history: from the contact of Native Americans from Cuba and the USA, to the US support for slavery in Cuba, to the presence of many Cuban exiles and radicals in the US, etc... This interconnectedness and messy relationship between the 2 countries is very compellingly portrayed and fascinating to think about.
The other big positive reason is that this is very much a book about the Cuban people in action. Sure, the big names of history get their due: José Marti, Castro, Batista, US presidents,... but they never control the narrative as they in real life never completely controlled the real life events. We get focus on slaves rebelling against the slave system, a mixed racial people fighting against an imperial power, a civil society in all it's different forms resisting a dictator , people of all different classes leaving Cuba for a better life,... The Cuban people in all it's forms, good and ill, and their quest for freedom stand central in this book and that's great. I would recommend this to anyone who has even a passing interest in Cuban and/or American history
February 2, 2022
Truly a phenomenal work of art and history. The author’s ability to combine Cuban and US history into one story makes you wonder how it could have ever been done separately. There were so many details I never knew about US history, and I finally know Cuba’s stories and culture so much better than from headlines. It is a long book, but the pacing and breaks in each chapter made it easy to read. I wish there were more books like this and that I had been taught how interesting history could actually be.
I’ll be surprised if I read a better book this year.
I’ll be surprised if I read a better book this year.
February 22, 2024
So many thoughts. And so many so weighty.
In reading this book I wanted to continue by journey in understanding the United States as it relates to its territories and its neighbors. I had read "How to Hide an Empire" and was surprised by the lack of chapters completely on Cuba. Growing up I heard on the news about it, the people desperately fleeing their own country for the U.S. and the tight grip of a Fidel Castro run communist's government. I am embarrassed to admit that it wasn't until reading both of these books do I understand why a book on territories doesn't cover Cuba -- for it never was a territory -- and why we have been overly involved and invested in what happens in Cuba.
This book was an incredible history of the country of Cuba. From its existence prior to the arrival of Europeans and on to modern events as recent as the Trump and Biden election race. What I would say makes this history unique is that it tells of Cuban history and U.S. history as they intertwine and relate to eachother: in trade, politics, business legal and otherwise. I loved how folklore and stories, artists, and the common stories of the people introduced each chapter. I felt like I had a window into a culture I never really appreciated -- a culture that was so often villainized by my culture.
And here is where things get difficult and made this a hard read. Not because I was bored or even disbelieving in what was written about. But like all who have experienced living in the U.S. it is hard to see how we're seen abroad. How under-the-table agreements, corrupt policy, and seemingly benign laws and trade embargo affect people outside of the 50 states -- little opportunity, poverty, and poor living conditions.
And here in this book, the author details how pointed and intentional the U.S. relations with Cuba have been -- and much of it point to subverting it prosperity. Much of my annotating in this book kept track of the times this occurred and its too many to count.
But unlike stories, the heroes are not all who they needed to be and the villains' are more complex than we wish. And the author does a fair job of displaying the good in and bad in the prominate characters in Cuba's history; where there was good done and where they failed; where atrocities occurred.
I will say if you are looking at a detailed, account of Castro's dictatorship, this isn't the book for you. As the title of the book suggests, it is about Cuba as it relates to the U.S. And so, the book (with some apparent bias) skims over lightly some of the more troubling aspects of Castro's control of Cuba.
All this to say, I would highly recommend this book. It has changed how I view "boring" presidential years in U.S. history -- for they greatly affected other countries. It has changed my language for talking about what country I live in. I don't want to say "America" anymore for there are many that live in the Americas and they don't all live in the United States. It has also opened my eyes to the at all cost rid the world of Communism that shaped so much of U.S. policy in the last 50 plus years, since the Cold War. One of the most shocking revelations of this book was the financial support the U.S. gave to the Apartheid regime in South Africa, just to keep a newly independent African nation from going communist. Financial support at about 35 million dollars. There are more but that would spoil the book. Read it.
In reading this book I wanted to continue by journey in understanding the United States as it relates to its territories and its neighbors. I had read "How to Hide an Empire" and was surprised by the lack of chapters completely on Cuba. Growing up I heard on the news about it, the people desperately fleeing their own country for the U.S. and the tight grip of a Fidel Castro run communist's government. I am embarrassed to admit that it wasn't until reading both of these books do I understand why a book on territories doesn't cover Cuba -- for it never was a territory -- and why we have been overly involved and invested in what happens in Cuba.
This book was an incredible history of the country of Cuba. From its existence prior to the arrival of Europeans and on to modern events as recent as the Trump and Biden election race. What I would say makes this history unique is that it tells of Cuban history and U.S. history as they intertwine and relate to eachother: in trade, politics, business legal and otherwise. I loved how folklore and stories, artists, and the common stories of the people introduced each chapter. I felt like I had a window into a culture I never really appreciated -- a culture that was so often villainized by my culture.
And here is where things get difficult and made this a hard read. Not because I was bored or even disbelieving in what was written about. But like all who have experienced living in the U.S. it is hard to see how we're seen abroad. How under-the-table agreements, corrupt policy, and seemingly benign laws and trade embargo affect people outside of the 50 states -- little opportunity, poverty, and poor living conditions.
And here in this book, the author details how pointed and intentional the U.S. relations with Cuba have been -- and much of it point to subverting it prosperity. Much of my annotating in this book kept track of the times this occurred and its too many to count.
But unlike stories, the heroes are not all who they needed to be and the villains' are more complex than we wish. And the author does a fair job of displaying the good in and bad in the prominate characters in Cuba's history; where there was good done and where they failed; where atrocities occurred.
I will say if you are looking at a detailed, account of Castro's dictatorship, this isn't the book for you. As the title of the book suggests, it is about Cuba as it relates to the U.S. And so, the book (with some apparent bias) skims over lightly some of the more troubling aspects of Castro's control of Cuba.
All this to say, I would highly recommend this book. It has changed how I view "boring" presidential years in U.S. history -- for they greatly affected other countries. It has changed my language for talking about what country I live in. I don't want to say "America" anymore for there are many that live in the Americas and they don't all live in the United States. It has also opened my eyes to the at all cost rid the world of Communism that shaped so much of U.S. policy in the last 50 plus years, since the Cold War. One of the most shocking revelations of this book was the financial support the U.S. gave to the Apartheid regime in South Africa, just to keep a newly independent African nation from going communist. Financial support at about 35 million dollars. There are more but that would spoil the book. Read it.
October 1, 2021
This was a fascinating and marvelously written history. I knew very little about Cuba, and Ferrer laid out a coherent and compelling narrative of Cuba and its intimate, intertwined history with America. While the book is comprehensive and long, it didn't feel long, and I was always eager to get back to it. Ferrer revisits key characters and themes throughout, creating a solid through line without feeling repetitive. Her own history with Cuba -- she was born there and her parents left for America shortly thereafter -- provides excellent nuance and grounding when she covers more recent events. I'm not describing this very well, but I really enjoyed this and felt that her writing brough history to life (and cleared up some fogginess I had surrounding events that happened in my own lifetime).
June 18, 2022
Ada Ferrer's Pulitzer Prize-winning book is a really great introduction to Cuban history. It offers a fairly comprehensive overview of Cuba from Columbus' landing to 2020, highlighting the island's fraught relationship with the United States. Would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to get a foot in the door of Cuba's fascinating history! In the future, I'm keen to read more about Cuba's role in the Angolan Civil War and the politics of the despicable Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp.
June 25, 2024
4.5⭐️ Before this book, my Cuban history knowledge was Fidel Castro/Bay of Pigs/Cuban Missile Crisis. Now I know alllll of the things!
January 16, 2024
Exceptional.
Ferrer does a beautiful job connecting the watershed moments—things I heard about in passing, or on the news, or in my history classes—of Cuban history. She brings individual actors to life and makes the facts and figures personal. This is a fantastic read.
In my life, names like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were always spoken with mysterious disdain. I had heard of Batista... but I didn't know what he did. Bay of Pigs? A military action something or other that wasn't well explained to me. The Cuban Missile Crisis? I knew of its gravity, but I didn't understand it from Cuba's perspective. Why does the U.S. have Guantanamo Bay? Why is there a Little Havana? What does the mafia have to do with any of this? Why does a beautiful tropical island with wonderful potential have to ration its food? (And, new to me? The Gulf Stream. Thanks, Benjamin Franklin. I'm fascinated by it.)
Wasn't the U.S. just protecting the world from communism? So we say. But U.S. involvement with Cuba didn't begin in 1959 with the Castro revolution (which, by the way, didn't start out as a communist movement). We inserted ourselves during the colonial era with the slave trade, we jealously desired influence there against Spain in the late 1800s—when someone asks you what the Spanish-American War was about, say "CUBA"—and when Spain lost that war, it was the U.S. flag we raised over the capitol, not the Cuban one. When they created a new constitution, the U.S. insisted that a clause was inserted stating we had the right to go in whenever we deemed it in our interest. We bought up most of the land and businesses. Under the banner of freedom, the U.S. has acted as a bully in world events. We have played the self-righteous big brother and meddled in the economies and politics of so many countries in self-serving ways and, in turn, left those countries without the means to self-govern and self-determine. Our international politics has been overwhelmingly selfish.
I recognize that all political systems are faulty and men (sigh, it's always been men) with good intentions are oft lost in their own power and those on the bottom of the social structure are the ones who suffer most. This theme is played out time and again in Cuba.
Though one can recognize the direct, personal connection Ferrer has to Cuba (she was born there and she and her mother fled in 1963), this historical account feels measured and evenhanded. There are many histories of Cuba, but this one has provided me with a foundation to really understand and have compassion for the consciousness of the Cuban people. We are all Americans.
Ferrer does a beautiful job connecting the watershed moments—things I heard about in passing, or on the news, or in my history classes—of Cuban history. She brings individual actors to life and makes the facts and figures personal. This is a fantastic read.
In my life, names like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were always spoken with mysterious disdain. I had heard of Batista... but I didn't know what he did. Bay of Pigs? A military action something or other that wasn't well explained to me. The Cuban Missile Crisis? I knew of its gravity, but I didn't understand it from Cuba's perspective. Why does the U.S. have Guantanamo Bay? Why is there a Little Havana? What does the mafia have to do with any of this? Why does a beautiful tropical island with wonderful potential have to ration its food? (And, new to me? The Gulf Stream. Thanks, Benjamin Franklin. I'm fascinated by it.)
Wasn't the U.S. just protecting the world from communism? So we say. But U.S. involvement with Cuba didn't begin in 1959 with the Castro revolution (which, by the way, didn't start out as a communist movement). We inserted ourselves during the colonial era with the slave trade, we jealously desired influence there against Spain in the late 1800s—when someone asks you what the Spanish-American War was about, say "CUBA"—and when Spain lost that war, it was the U.S. flag we raised over the capitol, not the Cuban one. When they created a new constitution, the U.S. insisted that a clause was inserted stating we had the right to go in whenever we deemed it in our interest. We bought up most of the land and businesses. Under the banner of freedom, the U.S. has acted as a bully in world events. We have played the self-righteous big brother and meddled in the economies and politics of so many countries in self-serving ways and, in turn, left those countries without the means to self-govern and self-determine. Our international politics has been overwhelmingly selfish.
I recognize that all political systems are faulty and men (sigh, it's always been men) with good intentions are oft lost in their own power and those on the bottom of the social structure are the ones who suffer most. This theme is played out time and again in Cuba.
Though one can recognize the direct, personal connection Ferrer has to Cuba (she was born there and she and her mother fled in 1963), this historical account feels measured and evenhanded. There are many histories of Cuba, but this one has provided me with a foundation to really understand and have compassion for the consciousness of the Cuban people. We are all Americans.
February 19, 2023
Thorough, informative, and entertaining. A labor of love. It took me far too long to read this but it was worth it. My Cuban father-in-law would dismiss this as a liberal rant. “The embargo is working!” But it’s an eye opening and objective telling of Cuban and American history to the present.
July 22, 2023
Very enjoyable work to read. Fantastically researched
November 15, 2025
Excellent overview of Cuba’s history from Columbus to present day.
It reads like a novel!
It reads like a novel!
June 10, 2022
4.5 stars
This history on Cuba won the Pulitzer Prize in History a few months ago. It was an interesting read and the pacing of the narrative was quite good.
Here are some chronologically ordered notes on the Americanized history of our neighbor to the South.
Columbus' arrival changed everything and he soon set up
encomenderos or Spanish run villages following the enslavement of the Taino people. The Spanish mined gold (very small quantities) and other precious metals for the Spanish crown.
In 1821 Felix Valera a Cuban ambassador asked the United States to annex Cuba. Of course the Spanish crown was concerned and ordered the assassination of Valera who fled to New York where he spent his remaining years in exile and lobbied the U.S.
Jefferson and Adams and current President Monroe weighed in on the Cuba possibilities. The former presidents both thought an annexation of Cuba would strengthen America and make the country more dominant in the hemisphere. But they also recognized it was probably not worth a war with Spain and time was on America's side. Monroe however formulated the Monroe Doctrine as he was concerned about Britain's possible influence and acquisitions but also implied the U.S. would respect existing nations.
America invested heavily in Cuba in the early 19th century. New England merchants disobeyed laws against the slave trade and then took the profits and invested in sugar plantations in Cuba. James DeWolf a senator from Rhode island was one of the wealthiest Americans and he was heavily invested in Cuban plantations. New Hope about sixty miles from Havana was his largest plantation. Even the railroads were owned by Americans. A weakened Spain ostensibly retained control because of the Monroe Doctrine which dissuaded England from taking over Cuba.
The Cuban slave rebellions of 1843 and the following repression was known as Ladder. Many thousands of slaves were tortured to death. Maria Gowen Brooks, a witness, wrote a poem about it called Ode to the Departed with a View to the Heavens.
Franklin Pierce's VP William Rufus King took his inauguration in Cuba where he owned plantations. He was being treated for TB at his own sanatarium there in Matanzas.
There were three filibustering expeditions to Cuba in the 1850s to annex Cuba to America. All missions failed and the last one resulted in hundreds being executed by Spanish authorities.
In 1868 brought the ten year revolution and slave rebellion led by Carlos Cespedes. The revolution was ultimately not successful but it dod lead to the abolition of slavery in 1880.
The Treaty of Paris in 1898 granted America the control of four former Spanish territories. None of the peoples who were from the territories were represented.
Cuba became independent in 1902 but the influence of the U.S. and its economic leverage was significant. And then came the Americanization of the sugar industry. By the 1920s 75 U.S. owned sugar mills were responsible for 63% of the island's sugar production. The American owners circumvented many local laws through influence and bribery.
In 1906 the Americans occupied Cuba again because of the Cuban political factions and infighting were causing instability. Taft was appointed as governor.
In the 1920s Americans began flocking to Cuba as tourists fond of the gambling drinking and the good weather.
It was at this time that the Cuban government with U.S. backing became corrupt and difficult to vote out of office. In 1929 a young communist politician named Julio Mella was assassinated by elements of the Cuban government. The Cuban public deeply resented American meddling in their politics, so Cuban workers and students would play a large role with protests but it was the dictator Bautista that gradually came to power and use force to remain in power.
The 26th of July movement in 1957 was also known as the Urban underground. Castro also had the rural support and is where his revolutionaries were living. Noting popular opinion was 90% against Bautista so on December 31st 1958 Bautista flew out of Havana to exile in Miami. When Castro came to power U.S. property in Cuba was expropriated and Castro looked to the Soviet Union to provide many goods and weapons. In April 1961 the Bay of Pigs invasion failed. A year later came the Cuban Missile Crisis.
After 1959 more than a million Cubans left for America, although recently relations have improved somewhat between the U.S. and Cuban governments.
This history on Cuba won the Pulitzer Prize in History a few months ago. It was an interesting read and the pacing of the narrative was quite good.
Here are some chronologically ordered notes on the Americanized history of our neighbor to the South.
Columbus' arrival changed everything and he soon set up
encomenderos or Spanish run villages following the enslavement of the Taino people. The Spanish mined gold (very small quantities) and other precious metals for the Spanish crown.
In 1821 Felix Valera a Cuban ambassador asked the United States to annex Cuba. Of course the Spanish crown was concerned and ordered the assassination of Valera who fled to New York where he spent his remaining years in exile and lobbied the U.S.
Jefferson and Adams and current President Monroe weighed in on the Cuba possibilities. The former presidents both thought an annexation of Cuba would strengthen America and make the country more dominant in the hemisphere. But they also recognized it was probably not worth a war with Spain and time was on America's side. Monroe however formulated the Monroe Doctrine as he was concerned about Britain's possible influence and acquisitions but also implied the U.S. would respect existing nations.
America invested heavily in Cuba in the early 19th century. New England merchants disobeyed laws against the slave trade and then took the profits and invested in sugar plantations in Cuba. James DeWolf a senator from Rhode island was one of the wealthiest Americans and he was heavily invested in Cuban plantations. New Hope about sixty miles from Havana was his largest plantation. Even the railroads were owned by Americans. A weakened Spain ostensibly retained control because of the Monroe Doctrine which dissuaded England from taking over Cuba.
The Cuban slave rebellions of 1843 and the following repression was known as Ladder. Many thousands of slaves were tortured to death. Maria Gowen Brooks, a witness, wrote a poem about it called Ode to the Departed with a View to the Heavens.
Franklin Pierce's VP William Rufus King took his inauguration in Cuba where he owned plantations. He was being treated for TB at his own sanatarium there in Matanzas.
There were three filibustering expeditions to Cuba in the 1850s to annex Cuba to America. All missions failed and the last one resulted in hundreds being executed by Spanish authorities.
In 1868 brought the ten year revolution and slave rebellion led by Carlos Cespedes. The revolution was ultimately not successful but it dod lead to the abolition of slavery in 1880.
The Treaty of Paris in 1898 granted America the control of four former Spanish territories. None of the peoples who were from the territories were represented.
Cuba became independent in 1902 but the influence of the U.S. and its economic leverage was significant. And then came the Americanization of the sugar industry. By the 1920s 75 U.S. owned sugar mills were responsible for 63% of the island's sugar production. The American owners circumvented many local laws through influence and bribery.
In 1906 the Americans occupied Cuba again because of the Cuban political factions and infighting were causing instability. Taft was appointed as governor.
In the 1920s Americans began flocking to Cuba as tourists fond of the gambling drinking and the good weather.
It was at this time that the Cuban government with U.S. backing became corrupt and difficult to vote out of office. In 1929 a young communist politician named Julio Mella was assassinated by elements of the Cuban government. The Cuban public deeply resented American meddling in their politics, so Cuban workers and students would play a large role with protests but it was the dictator Bautista that gradually came to power and use force to remain in power.
The 26th of July movement in 1957 was also known as the Urban underground. Castro also had the rural support and is where his revolutionaries were living. Noting popular opinion was 90% against Bautista so on December 31st 1958 Bautista flew out of Havana to exile in Miami. When Castro came to power U.S. property in Cuba was expropriated and Castro looked to the Soviet Union to provide many goods and weapons. In April 1961 the Bay of Pigs invasion failed. A year later came the Cuban Missile Crisis.
After 1959 more than a million Cubans left for America, although recently relations have improved somewhat between the U.S. and Cuban governments.
August 9, 2024
Listened on audiobook
I've always wanted to know more about Cuba, why is there an embargo? How did Guantanamo Bay get there? Who was Fidel Castro, really? Cuba: An American history is the perfect way to learn about that funky little communist island.
Starts out a little dry, lots of 'the Spanish did this, and then this', but becomes intoxicating when you get to the Cuban Wars for Independence. now you can ask me anything about Cuba and I can confidently make something up
I've always wanted to know more about Cuba, why is there an embargo? How did Guantanamo Bay get there? Who was Fidel Castro, really? Cuba: An American history is the perfect way to learn about that funky little communist island.
Starts out a little dry, lots of 'the Spanish did this, and then this', but becomes intoxicating when you get to the Cuban Wars for Independence. now you can ask me anything about Cuba and I can confidently make something up
October 1, 2022
I really, really liked this book. It is a history of Cuba, and it should serve that purpose if that is what you want. But beyond that, it is history of the relationship between Cuba and the United States. I know I am not the best judge of what general audiences would like, since I am a historian who reads history books all the time, but I thought it was really readable too. It was fun and compelling. Admirably even handed too. I felt like I learned a lot from the Castro-era chapters. I learned a lot from all of it really.
Ferrer makes a pretty good case here that the US and Cuba, and particularly Florida and Cuba, are so tied up in each other that you really can't tell their individual histories properly without telling them together. This is a great addition to borderlands historiography. I feel like it could get forgotten - US/Canada is obviously a borderland, as is US/Mexico. US/Cuba might be ignored, since there is no land border. But reading this, it's obviously just as much a borderland as those others.
Ferrer makes a pretty good case here that the US and Cuba, and particularly Florida and Cuba, are so tied up in each other that you really can't tell their individual histories properly without telling them together. This is a great addition to borderlands historiography. I feel like it could get forgotten - US/Canada is obviously a borderland, as is US/Mexico. US/Cuba might be ignored, since there is no land border. But reading this, it's obviously just as much a borderland as those others.
November 23, 2023
A well sourced, detailed account of Cuba's history. It is outstandingly well sourced, full of interesting facts and crushingly dull.
Not to generalise, but there's a thing I've been noticing in a lot of the Pulitzer prize winning history books lately. I don't read a lot of them, but over time it has become more and more apparent that these histories often adopt a far more 'narrative' approach than you typically find. They are big, sweeping epics, which adopt a couple of fictions literary flourishes to tell a teleological and overarching story. The big giveaway is when the author can't resist using 'inevitable' to describe a particularly famous moment.
There isn't anything wrong with this approach.It is engaging and helps the events and character stay in one's head better, because the historian is leaning into the archetypes, set ups and pay offs, readers are used to. Ada Ferrer also cannot be faulted for not doing the work. This work is extensively well sourced, considered and well written. It is an authoritative history on Cuba, which will doubtlessly be used by a slew of future historians. Ferrer just adopts a particular style, and it was one of the more interesting things about this piece.
Unfortunately, that is because this is the type of history books they warn children about. It is big. It is complicated. And it is so, unbearably, dour. All of the pieces are interesting. All of the moments, and parts, and stories are really cool. But put together into such a gargantuan collection, it reduces each part to a grey component within a creaking mechanism on a unitary path to bore the reader to tears. To be clear, this is not an intentional outcome by Ferrer. She has done an outstanding job. It just did not resonate with me, and I found it extremely difficult to finish.
My main issue is that by leaving out the debates, or the interrogation of how the past happens, or why we know what the past is, or who thought what about these things, Ferrer removes the texture and complexity of what makes history worthwhile. For me at least. Everyone else has their own reason for their own tastes.
There are plenty of more positive reviews for this book out there, sadly this isn't one of them. But it's just one take, with a particularly grumpy disposition at the moment. So don't take my word for it.
Not to generalise, but there's a thing I've been noticing in a lot of the Pulitzer prize winning history books lately. I don't read a lot of them, but over time it has become more and more apparent that these histories often adopt a far more 'narrative' approach than you typically find. They are big, sweeping epics, which adopt a couple of fictions literary flourishes to tell a teleological and overarching story. The big giveaway is when the author can't resist using 'inevitable' to describe a particularly famous moment.
There isn't anything wrong with this approach.It is engaging and helps the events and character stay in one's head better, because the historian is leaning into the archetypes, set ups and pay offs, readers are used to. Ada Ferrer also cannot be faulted for not doing the work. This work is extensively well sourced, considered and well written. It is an authoritative history on Cuba, which will doubtlessly be used by a slew of future historians. Ferrer just adopts a particular style, and it was one of the more interesting things about this piece.
Unfortunately, that is because this is the type of history books they warn children about. It is big. It is complicated. And it is so, unbearably, dour. All of the pieces are interesting. All of the moments, and parts, and stories are really cool. But put together into such a gargantuan collection, it reduces each part to a grey component within a creaking mechanism on a unitary path to bore the reader to tears. To be clear, this is not an intentional outcome by Ferrer. She has done an outstanding job. It just did not resonate with me, and I found it extremely difficult to finish.
My main issue is that by leaving out the debates, or the interrogation of how the past happens, or why we know what the past is, or who thought what about these things, Ferrer removes the texture and complexity of what makes history worthwhile. For me at least. Everyone else has their own reason for their own tastes.
There are plenty of more positive reviews for this book out there, sadly this isn't one of them. But it's just one take, with a particularly grumpy disposition at the moment. So don't take my word for it.
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