Cuba
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Description
Ever since Fidel Castro assumed power in Cuba in 1959, Americans have obsessed about the nation ninety miles south of the Florida Keys. America's fixation on the tropical socialist republic has only grown over the years, fueled in part by successive waves of Cuban immigration and Castro's larger-than-life persona. Cubans are now a major ethnic group in Florida, and the exile community is so powerful that every American president has curried favor with it. But what do most Americans really know about Cuba itself?In this second edition of the widely hailed Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia Sweig updates her concise and remarkably accessible portrait of the small island nation--and now includes material from her 2010 interview with Fidel Castro. The new edition covers the key events of the last few years: Raul Castro's assumption of power from his brother Fidel, economic and political reforms since Raul came to power, and the changes in US-Cuba relations following the election of Barack Obama. Expansive in coverage and authoritative in scope, the book looks back over Cuba's history since the Spanish American War before shifting to recent times. Focusing equally on Cuba's role in world affairs and its own social and political transformations, Sweig divides the book chronologically into the pre-Fidel era, the period between the 1959 revolution and the fall of the Soviet Union, the post-Cold War era, and--finally--the post-Fidel era.
Informative, pithy, and lucidly written, it is the best compact reference on Cuba's internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Features
- Cuba is a perennially topical issue in the U.S., and this up-to-date, accessible account of the subject will put it all together for general readers
- While focusing on hot-button current events, it also connects all the dots for readers by pairing its discussion of contemporary events with a deeply informed historical explanation of how Cuba became what it is today.
- Sweig is a recognized trade author who is the go-to person on Cuba and Latin America for the national media.
Reviews
"Excellent and... evenhanded.... [It] packs a phenomenal amount of complex history into clear and simple prose."--Los Angeles Times (review of the first edition)
"Sweig's useful ready reference is highly recommended."--Library Journal
(review of the first edition)
"Splendid...Sweig displays a talent for succinctness and clarity, as well as a subtle, deep knowledge of Cuban affairs." --Foreign Affairs
(review of the first edition)
"Excellent and... evenhanded.... [It] packs a phenomenal amount of complex history into clear and simple prose."--Los Angeles Times
"Sweig's useful ready reference is highly recommended."--Library Journal
"Splendid...Sweig displays a talent for succinctness and clarity, as well as a subtle, deep knowledge of Cuban affairs." --Foreign Affairs
About the Author(s)
Julia E. Sweig is the Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is the author of Inside the Cuban Revolution (winner of the AHA Herbert Feis award for the best book of the year by an independent scholar) and Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century. She lives with her family outside of Washington, DC.
