Preface
Part I: 1492–1598
Chapter 1: Columbus Arrives and Spain Colonizes Cuba, 1492–1550
Chapter 2: Sugar and Slavery
Chapter 3: Struggle for Independence, 1868–1898
Chapter 4: Cuban Independence War and US Occupation
Chapter 5: From Occupation to “Good Neighbor”
Chapter 6: Playground of the Western World and the Rise of Batista,
1934–1958
Chapter 7: The Revolutionary Struggle, 1953–1958
Part II: 1959–1989
Chapter 8: The Quest for Sovereignty
Chapter 9: Consolidating the Revolution: Culture and Politics
Chapter 10: Consolidating the Revolution: Economic Reforms, New
Institutions, and Basic Needs
Chapter 11: Bay of Pigs/Playa Girón
Chapter 12: The Missile Crisis
Chapter 13: Foreign Policy in the 1960s: Exporting Revolution,
Chinese Flirtations, and Soviet Tensions
Chapter 14: Internal Adjustments and Advancing Equality,
1963–1975
Chapter 15: Becoming a Third World Leader, 1970s
Chapter 16: Mariel Exodus—A Warning Signal, 1980
Chapter 17: Change and Rectification at Home and Abroad, 1980s
Part III: 1990–2016
Chapter 18: The “Special Period” in a Time of Peace, 1990–2000
Chapter 19: The Cuban Diaspora and Racial Inequality
Chapter 20: Helms-Burton, US-Cuban Relations, and Terrorism,
1995–1998
Chapter 21: The Pope Goes to Cuba; Elián Goes to Miami,
1998–2000
Chapter 22: The Search for a Viable Strategy, 2001–2006
Chapter 23: The Transition from Fidel to Raúl Castro, 2006–2009
Chapter 24: Securing Cuba’s Independence through Economic Change,
2010–2016
Chapter 25: Securing Cuba’s Independence through Foreign Policy,
2010–2016
Chapter 26: Change, Continuity, and the Future
Appendix: Chronology of Key Events
Bibliography
Index
Philip Brenner is professor of international relations and
affiliate professor of history at American University. He is a
co-editor of A Contemporary Cuba Reader and co-author
of Sad and Luminous Days: Cuba’s Struggle with the Superpowers
after the Missile Crisis.
Peter Eisner is an award-winning foreign correspondent who
covered Latin America for many years as an editor and reporter at
the Washington Post, Newsday, and the Associated Press.
He currently teaches at Northwestern University’s Medill School of
Journalism. His most recent book is MacArthur’s Spies.
Brenner (international relations and history, American Univ.) and
Eisner (journalist) have spent many years teaching and writing
about Cuba and use their personal experiences judiciously in this
clearly written, concise, and well-researched history. The 26
chapters are short, and subheadings guide readers. The authors'
thesis is that Cubans, from the island’s earliest inhabitants until
today, want Cuba to be controlled by Cubans, free from undue
outside influence. They draw heavily on historian Luis A. Pérez,
although they do not cover Cuba’s history before 1959 as thoroughly
as Richard Gott in Cuba: A New History (CH, Jun'05, 42-6041), and
are not as detailed as Lars Schoultz in That Infernal Little Cuban
Republic (CH, Dec'09, 47-2258). Brenner and Eisner are sympathetic
to the Castro revolution, although they identify its mistakes and
are critical of the US government, especially its willingness to
condone violence to overthrow Castro. Documents and highlighted
pages focus on key events and individuals, and the book contains a
helpful chronology and extensive bibliography. With little jargon,
it will appeal to travelers and undergraduates. Summing Up:
Recommended. All public and academic levels/libraries.
*CHOICE*
A productive partnership between Brenner, a veteran Cuba expert,
and Eisner, an accomplished journalist, has brought forth an
eminently accessible, engaging journey through five centuries of
Cuba’s tortured yet hopeful history— a story unified, in the
authors’ view, by the island’s heroic struggles for
self-determination. The indigenous Taino chief Hatuey courageously
resisted European domination in the sixteenth century. Hundreds of
years later, Cubans launched a bloody struggle for independence
from Spain, and Fidel Castro led a socialist revolution to purge
the island of U.S. influence.... Cuba Libre concludes with an
empathetic and balanced discussion of the dilemmas facing Cuban
society today.
*Foreign Affairs*
The productive partnership of Philip Brenner, a long-standing Cuba
expert, and Peter Eisner, an accomplished journalist, has gifted us
a wonderful, engaging journey through the five centuries of Cuba’s
tortured yet hopeful history, unified by the island’s heroic
struggles for self-determination in a hostile world. This very
accessible primer will fire the imagination of college students as
well as provide curious U.S. travelers with well-reasoned answers
to their most pressing FAQs.
*Richard E. Feinberg, University of California San Diego; author of
Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Economy*
Informed with an appreciation that the Cuban revolution emerged out
of a complex historical process, Cuba Libre provides a probing
assessment of a national history within a transnational
context. Brenner and Eisner have crafted a thoughtful blend of
insight and overview into a compelling historical narrative.
*Louis A. Pérez, Jr., University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill*
The complex tapestry of Cuban history has rarely been described as
well as in this highly readable book. Cuba Libre unravels the
complexities of Cuba’s past in order to provide a nuanced
explanation of the success of the 1959 revolution and its
confounding evolution over nearly sixty years. Brenner and Eisner
offer explanations of key Cuban anomalies: how does a country
dominated by a hierarchical state continue to have intense
political debates in the street and within families? Why do the
arts flourish so intensely and with high levels of political
content at the same time the media is tamed? And why, in a
hemisphere dominated by leadership changes in recent decades, has
the regime in Cuba stayed in power? This fascinating book
transcends stereotypes to provide insights into the complex
realities of Cuba past and present.
*Margaret E. Crahan, Columbia University*
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