Spanning the history of the island from pre-Columbian times to the present, this new study examines Cuba's political and economic development within the context of its international relations and continuing struggle for self-determination. The dualism that emerged in Cuban ideology--between liberal constructs of patria on the one hand and radical formulations of nationality on the other--is fully investigated as a source not only of national tension but of competing notions of liberty, equality, and justice which would eventually determine the form and function of Cuban mobilization. Pérez integrates local and provincial developments with issues of class, race, and gender to give a full, and fascinating, account of the Cuban history of struggle for nationality.

This overview of Cuban history and politics has been updated and revised to include a new afterword on the current political situation and an expanded guide to selected reference literature.

Annotation Examines the three-decade impact of the Cuban Revolution, from a major watershed in Latin American history to a marginalized Cuba.

This book, first published in 1965, is a scrupulously fair study of the origins and evolution of Castroism and an assessment of the impact of the Cuban revolution and of Castro’s subsequent domestic and foreign policies on the rest of Latin America. In this analysis it takes into account the great differences – social, economic and cultural – between the countries of the area and looks at the foreign policies of Latin American countries as well as the United States and the role of international Communism.

As Castro’s democratic reform movement veered off course, a revolution that seemed to signal the death knell of dictatorship in Latin America brought about its tragic opposite. Jonathan C. Brown examines in forensic detail how the turmoil that rocked a small Caribbean nation in the 1950s became one of the century’s most transformative events.

The Cuban revolution served as a rallying cry to people across Latin America and the Caribbean. The revolutionary regime has provided vital support to the rest of the region, offering everything from medical and development assistance to training and advice on guerrilla warfare. Cuba and Revolutionary Latin America is the first oral history of Cuba’s liberation struggle. Drawing on a vast array of original testimonies, Dirk Kruijt looks at the role of both veterans and the post-Revolution fidelista generation in shaping Cuba and the Americas. Featuring the testimonies of over sixty Cuban officials and former combatants, Cuba and Revolutionary Latin America offers unique insight into a nation which, in spite of its small size and notional pariah status, remains one of the most influential countries in the Americas.