Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York

Cuba, an American history, by Ada Ferrer

eng

no index present

non fiction

Cuba

large print

bibliography

by Ada Ferrer

Thorndike Press large print nonfiction

an American history

"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 ambitious and moving chronicle written for a moment that demands a new reckoning with both the island's past and its relationship with the United States. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba: An American History provides us with a front-row seat as we witness the evolution of the modern nation, with its dramatic record of conquest and colonization, of slavery and freedom, of independence and revolutions made and unmade. Along the way, Ferrer explores the sometimes surprising, often troubled intimacy between the two countries, documenting not only the influence of the United States on Cuba but also the many ways the island has been a recurring presence in US affairs. This, then, is a story that will give American readers unexpected insights into the history of their own nation and, in so doing, help them imagine a new relationship with Cuba. 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"--, Provided by publisher

I. Dispatches from the first America -- Heaven and hell -- Key to the Indies -- Copper virgin -- II. A colony worth a kingdom -- Havana for Florida -- Most favored nation -- Sugar's revolution -- III. An empire for slavery -- Adam's apple -- Torture plots -- Dreams of Dominion -- Civil war journeys -- IV. ¡Cuba Livre! -- Slave, soldier, citizen -- A revolution for the world -- V. American interregum -- A war renamed -- Island occupied -- VI. Strange republic -- Empire of sugar -- City of dreams -- Fratricide -- Boom, crash, awake -- VII. Republic, take two -- Authentic masses -- New charter -- Suitcases -- VIII. Origin stories -- Centennial spirit -- Insurrectionary line -- The mountains rise -- IX. The revolution begins now! -- First time -- Radical nonstop -- X. Confrontation -- Battle -- Brink -- XI. Hearts and minds -- New people -- New Americans -- Other Cubas -- XII. Departures -- Special years -- Open and shut -- If monuments could speak