Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): An American History

If you like survey histories and don't know much about Cuba (and you live in the US), I highly recommend this book. Not only does it cover key events and forces inside and outside Cuba that have shaped it, it's very readable and with on-the-ground anecdotes and quotes, brings to life how events probably felt to the people in or around them.BUT - to take it a level beyond "interesting & readable history book," I think this type of book is *important* to read. Personally, Cuban history was not covered in my public k-12 education in the US, except for the Cuban missile crisis. And due to the embargo, my knowledge of the place and its people has been pretty minimal. (And I think that is probably a very common experience.)Which is unfortunate, because Cuba is one of the US's few direct neighbors. Our histories, like with Mexico or Canada, are very intertwined. Havana has been a cultural hub for the entire hemisphere for the last 500 years, due to where it sat on the gulf stream trade routes between Europe and the Americas, with as much of a musical influence as NYC and New Orleans. Our relationship with Cuba even shapes presidential elections, or led to a nuclear missile crisis... To ignore it is to miss an important part of our own history, and how you treat your neighbors can cause tragic boomerang impacts.To that point, Ferrer frames Cuba's history as an "American" one, that it is hemispheric and intertwined with the US. What she brought to light (for me as a US citizen) was how the US has hungrily viewed Cuba as a place where we can extend our influence & economy. In that self-absorbed mindset, we've missed seeing Cuba's distinct history. We elbowed into their revolution from Spain and claimed them as a de facto vassal via the Platt Amendment. Then an era of progressive and revolutionary Cuban activism during the first half of the 20th century gained political "independence" from the US, at first from the Platt Amendment, then also economically with the nationalization of US-owned holdings under Castro. And thus relations deteriorated completely.Obama's effort to reconnect was a step in a new direction, more as partners and neighbors, but that change is doing some zig zags. Ferrer ends on a hopeful note about we all play a part in shaping the future. So as the book wrapped up, I wondered what a voter in the US might do. Even with a rapprochement, the economic imbalance (small poor country adjacent to a juggernaut) yields these high voltage differences that cause shocks when they connect. US investors eagerly bought up land & plantations a century ago when the revolution had suggested opportunity for all Cubans, then there were flash waves of migrants over the last sixty years. In electric systems you need good transformers that step-down the voltage level, and the question is what could those transformers be between the US and Cuba in the coming decades.No matter what, Cuba is our neighbor. And becoming better neighbors requires getting to know them, empathizing with their perspective, understanding how you're viewed and what your impacts are on them. A book like this is an important part of that journey, and it was great to read.Strongly recommend!

I highly recommend this book. It’s so full of information and well written. I can’t put it down.

One of the best books I’ve read on the history of a Latin American country. It is comprehensive, balanced, knowledgeable and it keeps you interested all along, kept wanting more. Deserves more than 5 stars

I found this book to be incredibly enlightening about the interaction of tiny Cuba & the big role it played in world history over the last 600 or so years. I don’t think it is incredibly well written with its constant repetition & jumping back & forth in time ; & I suspect it comes from a somewhat biased view of Cuba’s importance in the world & how negative US history is portrayed. But all in all , it is an interesting read though I don’t understand why it was felt to be Pulitzer Prize worthy.

This is a long but well written and comprehensive book about the very long history of Cuba from Columbus' landing in 1492 until the Obama years when there was a thaw in US/Cuba relations. That is now pretty much frozen over again, unfortunately.The book certainly educated me about I place I have been fascinated by and helped me prepare a presentation to a local group that meets in town to discuss foreign US policy.

I thoroughly enjoyed Ada Ferrer's book: Cuba An American History. If you could read only one book on the history of Cuba, this would be the one.

I have learned a lot about the history of Cuba and how the US tried to make Cuba part of the US.

For most people, their understanding of Cuban history begins with Fidel Castro’s 1959 Cuban Revolution. Or maybe the War of 1898 memorialized by “Remember the Maine,” and Teddy Roosevelt’s charge up San Juan Hill.But Cuban history is much richer as author Ada Ferrer well describes in Cuba: An American History. The book’s title is indicative of the broader perspective the author takes describing Cuba’s history. By American History she doesn’t mean America as in the United States, but rather the Americas of the western hemisphere – North and South America.A century before Fidel Castro, Cuba had its own revered patriots who fought and died in three wars of independence from Spain throughout the nineteenth century. By 1898, Cuba was finally on the verge of winning its independence when the United States entered the war, and soon negotiated the terms of peace without Cuban involvement. For the next sixty years, the United States--its government, business interests and crime syndicates--served as a parent, dominant partner and corruptor.The years under Fidel Castro, from 1960 through 2008, are well described including Castro’s embrace of the Soviet Union, foreign exploits in Angola and other countries, and growing hatred of the United States.Unfortunately, there is little discussion of the tumultuous years after 2008 when Raul Castro succeeded his older brother, and the United States elected its first Black president. Obama soon moved to open-up relations with Cuba declaring that isolating Cuba “hasn’t worked for fifty years.” For most Cubans it was a period of promise which soon ended with Donald Trump’s presidency who “reversed Obama’s thaw, reviving and strengthening the failed policies of the past.”Perhaps it’s asking too much, but with the author’s deep understanding of Cuba it would have been ideal if she could have provided a vision as to how the United States and Cuba could, someday, become partners, rather than enemies, as the United States has done so well with Germany, Japan and Vietnam.

Despite some other reader's reviews that disparage the alleged political spin, I found this to be a compelling read and battled through the TINY font to finish it quickly - which IMHO makes it a very good book. I read it during our one week vacation at an all-inclusive Cuban resort which made it all the more thought provoking. (in the context of the present state product shortages and general unhappiness of many Cubans). It's kind of sad to reflect on 500+ years (and ongoing) of exploitation and hope and pray for some kind of resurgence. My only criticism might be that this book hammered along like a freight train until the end and seemingly implied that the Biden administration might bring some changes. Perhaps the reality is that sleepy Joe holds the key to economic recovery for Cuba. I can only wish that's not the case and the people do find some other way to prosper.

The XVII and XVIII European centuries power was slavery, the came steam...

"Cuba: An American History" provides quite a detailed history of Cuba from colonial to modern times. The book also focused on its relationship to the US.While I was familiar with figures from Cuban history like Josie Martie, Antonio Maceo, and Fidel Castro and some aspects of the island's fight for independence and the start of US control at the end of the nineteenth century, this book highlights much about the country and its notable figures over the past centuries.Ada Ferrer provided an extensive history of Cuba, over five hundred pages long, with comprehensive notes, references for further reading, and some photographs. Overall, it was a very engaging read for me.

Un saggio storico che si legge come un romanzo. Un fantastico viaggio lungo la storia di cuba trattata con equilibrio, non di parte, in maniera realistica e veritiera. Lo consiglio a tutti in modo particolare a chi vuole approfondire la storia della colonizzazione del continente americano e quindi le cause che hanno generato gli attuali assetti politici.

Every american (inhabitants of the whole continent) and also spanish should read this book.