The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics (The Latin America Readers) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822331977 ISBN 13: 9780822331971

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2004

Synopsis

Cuba is often perceived in starkly black and white terms—either as the site of one of Latin America’s most successful revolutions or as the bastion of the world’s last communist regime. The Cuba Reader multiplies perspectives on the nation many times over, presenting more than one hundred selections about Cuba’s history, culture, and politics. Beginning with the first written account of the island, penned by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the selections assembled here track Cuban history from the colonial period through the ascendancy of Fidel Castro to the present.

The Cuba Reader combines songs, paintings, photographs, poems, short stories, speeches, cartoons, government reports and proclamations, and pieces by historians, journalists, and others. Most of these are by Cubans, and many appear for the first time in English. The writings and speeches of José Martí, Fernando Ortiz, Fidel Castro, Alejo Carpentier, Che Guevera, and Reinaldo Arenas appear alongside the testimonies of slaves, prostitutes, doctors, travelers, and activists. Some selections examine health, education, Catholicism, and santería; others celebrate Cuba’s vibrant dance, music, film, and literary cultures. The pieces are grouped into chronological sections. Each section and individual selection is preceded by a brief introduction by the editors.

The volume presents a number of pieces about twentieth-century Cuba, including the events leading up to and following Castro’s January 1959 announcement of revolution. It provides a look at Cuba in relation to the rest of the world: the effect of its revolution on Latin America and the Caribbean, its alliance with the Soviet Union from the 1960s until the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989, and its tumultuous relationship with the United States. The Cuba Reader also describes life in the periodo especial following the cutoff of Soviet aid and the tightening of the U.S. embargo.

For students, travelers, and all those who want to know more about the island nation just ninety miles south of Florida, The Cuba Reader is an invaluable introduction.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"[An] ambitious and impressive anthology, a sweeping collection of source materials by and about Cubans both on the island and living in other countries."--Susan Fernandez, The Miami Herald

From the Back Cover:

""The Cuba Reader" offers a splendid overview of the Cuban experience, past and present, through a dazzling array of points of view. The voices of participants and observers and perspectives on the extraordinary and the commonplace--with imagery conveyed by way of photography and poetry, through the lyric of music and the nuance of the novel--make for a compelling collection of material. The very fullness of its vision makes "The Cuba Reader" an indispensable book for courses--of every academic discipline--on Cuba."--Louis A. Perez, Jr., author of "On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and Culture"

About this edition

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0822331977
• ISBN 13: 9780822331971
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 736
• Editor: Aviva Chomsky, Barry Carr, Pamela Maria Smorkaloff