WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE IN HISTORY

Full of...lively insights and lucid prose (The Wall Street Journal) an epic, sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United States--from before the arrival of Columbus to the present day--written by one of the world's leading historians of Cuba.

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 important (The Guardian) and moving chronicle 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 is a story that will give Americans unexpected insights into the history of their own nation and, in so doing, help them imagine a new relationship with Cuba; readers will close [this] fascinating book with a sense of hope (The Economist).

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 over the same period--this is a stunning and monumental account like no other.

An entrancing tale of piracy colored with gold, treachery and double-dealing (Portland Press Herald), Pulitzer Prize-finalist Colin Woodward's The Republic of Pirates is the historical biography of the exploits of infamous Caribbean buccaneers.

In the early eighteenth century, the Pirate Republic was home to some of the great pirate captains, including Edward Blackbeard Teach, Black Sam Bellamy, and Charles Vane. Along with their fellow pirates -- former sailors, indentured servants, and runaway slaves -- this Flying Gang established a crude but distinctive democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which servants were free, blacks could be equal citizens, and leaders were chosen or deposed by a vote.

They cut off trade routes, sacked slave ships, and severed Europe from its New World empires. For a brief, glorious period the Republic was a success as the pirates became heroes in the eyes of the people.

Drawing on extensive research in the archives of Britain and the Americas, award-winning author Colin Woodard tells the dramatic untold story of the Pirate Republic that shook the very foundations of the British and Spanish Empires and fanned the democratic sentiments that would one day drive the American revolution.

An intimate conversation between towering public intellectuals examining the contentious interplay between the Cuban Revolution and U.S. empire

An audacious revolutionary experiment in the backyard of empire, Cuba has occupied a vexed role in the international order for decades. Though its doctors (and fighters)--and the outsized influence of its example--have traversed the globe, from Venezuela to Angola, its political and economic future remain uncertain as the Castro era comes to a close and the U.S. embargo proceeds unabated.

Through an intimate conversation between two of the country's most astute observers of international politics, Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad, On Cuba traces Cuban history from the early days of the 1950s revolution to the present, interrogating U.S. interventions and extracting lessons on U.S. power and influence in the Western Hemisphere along the way. Neither a jingoistic condemnation nor an uncritical celebration, Chomsky's heterodox approach to world affairs is on full display as he and Prashad grapple with Cuba's unique place on the international scene.

In a media landscape saturated with half-truths and fake news, Chomsky and Prashad--our own Frantz Fanon . . . [whose] writing of protest is always tinged with the beauty of hope (Amitava Kumar, author of Immigrant, Montana)--seek to shed light on the truth of a complex and perennially controversial nation, while examining the limits of mainstream media discourse.

A brilliant look at colonialism and its effects in Antigua, by the author of Annie John.

Lyrical, sardonic, and forthright, A Small Place magnifies our vision of one small place with Swiftian wit and precision. Jamaica Kincaid's expansive essay candidly appraises the ten-by-twelve-mile island in the British West Indies where she grew up, Antigua, and makes palpable the impact of European colonialism and tourism.

This book is a missive to the traveler, whether American or European, who wants to escape the banality and corruption of some large place. Kincaid, powerful and resolute, reminds us that the Antiguan people, formerly British subjects, are unable to escape the same drawbacks of their own tiny realm--that behind the benevolent Caribbean scenery are human lives, always complex and often fraught with injustice.

A sumptuously illustrated and vivid account of the deep ties that bridge the histories and cultures of two colorful and storied port cities

Mobile and Havana: Sisters across the Gulf presents a beautifully written and illustrated survey of the many historic linkages between these exotic port cities. Through an effortless blending of word and image, John S. Sledge, Alicia García-Santana, Chip Cooper, and Julio A. Larramendi, historians and photographers from each side of the basin, share a colorful, complex, and sometimes difficult story never before fully told.

Over twenty years ago, Mobile's visionary municipal archivist Jay Higginbotham remarked, Mobile, Alabama, and Havana, Cuba, have only three things in common. The past, the present, and the future. This book demonstrates just how much that is the case.

A concise, readable and thoroughly revised overview of Cuba written by Cubans for anyone interested in quickly understanding the island country's turbulent history.

Cuba: A Brief History covers the pre-Hispanic period, through Cuba's struggle to maintain the revolution in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, to the period after Fidel Castro's decision to step down from office, to the 2014 opening to Cuba by the Obama Administration, the retirement of Raul Castro and his replacement as president in 2018 by Miguel Diaz Canal, and finally to the reversal of Washington's engagement with Cuba under President Trump. This slim volume provides the reader with an overview of the history and politics of the tiny Caribbean island that continues to appear at the center of world events.

Featuring a presentation and analysis of US intervention on the island, Cuba: A Brief History also includes footnotes and a bibliography for further reading. This is an essential introduction to Cuba for students, visitors, and others looking for a bird's eye view of the turbulent history of the island that has captivated and enthralled its northern neighbors for decades.

Una concisa y legible perspectiva de Cuba, revisada a fondo y escrita por cubanos para cualquier persona interesada en comprender rápidamente la turbulenta historia del país insular.

Cuba: una breve historia abarca el período prehispánico, pasando por la lucha de Cuba por mantener la revolución en los años posteriores al colapso de la Unión Soviética; el período posterior a la decisión de Fidel Castro de abandonar el cargo; la apertura a Cuba en 2014 por parte de la Administración Obama; la jubilación de Raúl Castro y el reemplazo como presidente en 2018 de Miguel Díaz Canal; y finalmente la revocación del compromiso de Washington con Cuba bajo el presidente Trump. Este delgado volumen ofrece al lector una visión general de la historia y la política de la pequeña isla caribeña que sigue apareciendo en el centro de los acontecimientos mundiales.

Junto también a una presentación y un análisis de la intervención estadounidense en la isla, Cuba: una breve historia incluye asimismo notas al pie y una bibliografía para lecturas complementarias. Se trata de una introducción esencial a Cuba para estudiantes, visitantes y otras personas que busquen un ojo de águila para leer la turbulenta historia de la isla que ha cautivado y fascinado a sus vecinos del norte durante décadas.

A comprehensive anthology with more than 30 speeches that span five decades by Fidel Castro, one of history's greatest orators.

Emerging in the 1960s as a leading voice in support of anticolonial struggles, then continuing to play a role in the antiglobalization movement in the subsequent decades, Fidel Castro was an articulate and penetrating--if controversial--political thinker and leader, who outlasted ten US presidents.

Covering five decades of Fidel's speeches, this selection begins with his famous courtroom defense (History will Absolve Me), and also includes his speech on learning of Che Guevara's death in Bolivia, his analysis of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and his response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. With his declining health and the emergence of new leaders such as Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia, this book sheds light not just on Castro's mighty role in Latin America's past, but also on his legacy for the future. Love him or hate him, this anthology demonstrates that Fidel Castro is a master of the spoken word, as Gabriel García Márquez has described him.

The Fidel Castro Reader includes a chronology of the Cuban Revolution, an extensive glossary and index as well as 24 pages of photos.

Cuban Studies is the preeminent journal for scholarly work on Cuba. Each volume includes articles in English and Spanish and a large book review section. In publication since 1970, and under Alejandro de la Fuente's editorial leadership since 2013, this interdisciplinary journal covers all aspects of Cuban history, politics, culture, diaspora, and more. Issue 53 contains twelve articles and two sections of primary sources.

If you want to discover the remarkable history of Cuba then keep reading...

The themes of the history of Cuba are as vast as they are inspiring. Cuba has stared death in the face throughout its rocky history, and most of the time it has gazed into the eyes of death and smiled.

Over and over, oppressors have attempted to seize this island and its riches for their own selfish purposes. And over and over, revolutions have risen up to conquer in an attempt to return Cuba to its people.

The story of Cuba is a tale of courage and sacrifice, of horrific oppression and inspiring vision. It is a story about exploitation and hope, about a tiny island that rose to global importance.

There are battles and shipwrecks, pirates and Indians, tragic sacrifices and resounding triumphs. The Cuban people over and over show their resilience, courage, and passion in the face of incredible odds. They are a people that one cannot help but admire. And in this captivating history book, you'll discover their story.

In History of Cuba: A Captivating Guide to Cuban History, Starting from Christopher Columbus' Arrival to Fidel Castro, you will discover topics such as

• Cuba before Columbus
• The Arrival of the Spaniards
• Slavery and Sugarcane
• War
• The Cry of Yara
• Freedom
• Independent at Last
• A New Leader
• Castro's Cuba
• Desperate Times
• A New Horizon
• And much, much more

So if you want to learn more about the history of Cuba, click add to cart

In modern-day Havana, the remnants of the glamorous past are everywhere--old hotel-casinos, vintage American cars & flickering neon signs speak of a bygone era that is widely familiar & often romanticized, but little understood. In Havana Nocturne, T.J. English offers a multifaceted true tale of organized crime, political corruption, roaring nightlife, revolution & international conflict that interweaves the dual stories of the Mob in Havana & the event that would overshadow it, the Cuban Revolution.

As the Cuban people labored under a violently repressive regime throughout the 50s, Mob leaders Meyer Lansky & Charles Lucky Luciano turned their eye to Havana. To them, Cuba was the ultimate dream, the greatest hope for the future of the US Mob in the post-Prohibition years of intensified government crackdowns. But when it came time to make their move, it was Lansky, the brilliant Jewish mobster, who reigned supreme. Having cultivated strong ties with the Cuban government & in particular the brutal dictator Fulgencio Batista, Lansky brought key mobsters to Havana to put his ambitious business plans in motion.

Before long, the Mob, with Batista's corrupt government in its pocket, owned the biggest luxury hotels & casinos in Havana, launching an unprecedented tourism boom complete with the most lavish entertainment, the world's biggest celebrities, the most beautiful women & gambling galore. But their dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara & others who would lead the country's disenfranchised to overthrow their corrupt government & its foreign partners--an epic cultural battle that English captures in all its sexy, decadent, ugly glory.

Bringing together long-buried historical information with English's own research in Havana--including interviews with the era's key survivors--Havana Nocturne takes readers back to Cuba in the years when it was a veritable devil's playground for mob leaders. English deftly weaves together the parallel stories of the Havana Mob--featuring notorious criminals such as Santo Trafficante Jr & Albert Anastasia--& Castro's 26th of July Movement in a riveting, up-close look at how the Mob nearly attained its biggest dream in Havana--& how Fidel Castro trumped it all with the revolution.

Rising star Simon Hall captures the spirit of the 1960s in ten days that revolutionised the Cold War: Fidel Castro's visit to New York.

Hall has captured this catalytic moment like no one before. Anyone interested in the Global Sixties must read Ten Days in Harlem. Van E. Gosse, Professor of History, Franklin & Marshall College.

New York City, September 1960. Fidel Castro - champion of the oppressed, scourge of colonialism, and leftist revolutionary - arrives for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. His visit to the UN represents a golden opportunity to make his mark on the world stage.

Fidel's shock arrival in Harlem is met with a rapturous reception from the local African American community. He holds court from the iconic Hotel Theresa as a succession of world leaders, black freedom fighters and counter-cultural luminaries - everyone from Nikita Khrushchev to Gamal Abdel Nasser, Malcolm X to Allen Ginsberg - come calling. Then, during his landmark address to the UN General Assembly - one of the longest speeches in the organisation's history - he promotes the politics of anti-imperialism with a fervour, and an audacity, that makes him an icon of the 1960s.

In this unforgettable slice of modern history, Simon Hall reveals how these ten days were a foundational moment in the trajectory of the Cold War, a turning point in the history of anti-colonial struggle, and a launching pad for the social, cultural and political tumult of the decade that followed.

In the tradition of The Yellow House and Half Broke Horses, a memoir of the Cuban diaspora that follows one family's exile from the island, through a lyrical exploration of memory, cultural mythology, and the history of Cuban-American relations.

History is undeniably dominated by its men, but the stories Elena Sheppard was brought up on were almost always about Cuba's women--everyday women, whose names would be forgotten and buried along with their bones unless someone took the effort to remember them.

Cifuentes, Cuba, in the 1950s was nearly idyllic--at least that's how Elena's grandparents, Rosita and Gustavo Delgado, remember the Eden they left. When Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, Gustavo was placed on a list of political undesirables, and by the end of 1960, the couple and their two daughters had fled to Florida, with nothing more than five dollars, and a suitcase each. The Delgados were certain they would return to Cifuentes within a few months, after Castro's reign had run its course. But they never went back, and a piece of each of their identities became frozen in that moment.

In 1987, Elena was the first in Gustavo and Rosita's family to be born in the United States, but through the memories that lived on in her grandmother's mind, Cuba became the foundation of her childhood. Elena takes us inside these stories, and as we travel back and forth across the narrow Florida Straits that separate Miami and Havana, we also weave between past and present, to discover family secrets that are on the brink of being lost to time.

In lyrical yet unflinching prose, The Eternal Forest follows one family's exile from their homeland and in so doing, it tells the larger political story of the Cuban Revolution and its diaspora. Through a spellbinding blend of cultural myth, historical texts, and personal narrative, The Eternal Forest seeks to understand the nature of inheritance, how trauma and memory are passed down through generations, and what it means to yearn for an island you can never fully know.

Guantánamo sits at the center of two of the most vexing issues of US policy of the past century: relations with Cuba and the Global War on Terror. It is a contested, extralegal space. In A New No-Man's-Land, Esther Whitfield explores a multilingual archive of materials produced both at the US naval base and in neighboring Cuban communities and proposes an understanding of Guantánamo as a coherent borderland region, where experiences of isolation are opportunities to find common ground. She analyzes poetry, art, memoirs, and documentary films produced on both sides of the border. Authors and artists include prisoners, guards, linguists, chaplains, lawyers, and journalists, as well as Cuban artists and dissidents. Their work reveals surprising similarities: limited access to power and self-representation, mobility restricted by geography if not captivity, and immersion in political languages that have ascribed them rigid roles. Read together, the work of these disparate communities traces networks that extend among individuals in the Guantánamo region, inward to Cuba, and outward to the Caribbean, the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East.

A thorough examination of the history of Cuba, focusing primarily on the period from the revolution in 1959 to the present day.

This historical overview connects significant events from Cuba's past with the country's current social and political changes. Author Clifford L. Staten reviews the changing landscape of Cuba and explores subjects such as the relationship between the domestic and international political economy of Cuba; the successes and failures of Castro's revolution; the importance of the U.S. role in Cuban politics and commerce; and the problems associated with an agricultural fiscal structure based upon sugar.

The revised edition includes additional biographies of key figures from recent history and an expanded bibliography of notable resources. Updated content features a look at censorship issues with the rise of the Internet and social media in Cuba and the transfer of power to Raul Castro in 2006. Other topics include Spanish colonialism, the struggle for independence, Castro's revolution, the Cold War, and the impact of globalization.

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE IN HISTORY

Full of...lively insights and lucid prose (The Wall Street Journal) an epic, sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United States--from before the arrival of Columbus to the present day--written by one of the world's leading historians of Cuba.

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 important (The Guardian) and moving chronicle 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 is a story that will give Americans unexpected insights into the history of their own nation and, in so doing, help them imagine a new relationship with Cuba; readers will close [this] fascinating book with a sense of hope (The Economist).

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 over the same period--this is a stunning and monumental account like no other.

This is the first book in more than three decades to offer a complete and chronological history of revolutionary Cuba, including the years of rebellion that led to the revolution. Beginning with Batista's coup in 1952, which catalyzed the rebels, and bringing the reader to the present-day transformations initiated by Raúl Castro, Luis Martínez-Fernández provides a balanced interpretive synthesis of the major topics of contemporary Cuban history.

Expertly weaving the myriad historic, social, and political forces that shaped the island nation during this period, Martínez-Fernández examines the circumstances that allowed the revolution to consolidate in the early 1960s, the Soviet influence throughout the latter part of the Cold War, and the struggle to survive the catastrophic Special Period of the 1990s after the collapse of the U.S.S.R. He tackles the island's chronic dependence on sugar production that, starting with the plantations centuries ago, continues to shape Cuba's culture and society today. He analyzes the revolutionary pendulum that continues to swing between idealism and pragmatism, focusing on its effects on the everyday lives of the Cuban people, and--bucking established trends in Cuban scholarship--Martínez-Fernández systematically integrates the Cuban diaspora into the larger discourse of the revolution.

Concise, well written, and accessible, this book is an indispensable survey of the history and themes of the socialist revolution that forever changed Cuba and the world.

What Manner of Man Is This? is a unique and incisive look at an important but largely ignored period of the life of the Prince of Wales who was heir to the British throne and became King of England, Edward VIII, in 1936. A mere ten months later he abdicated the throne to marry a twice-divorced American, Mrs. Wallis Simpson in what was at once the scandal of the century and the love story of the age.

Many books have been written about the royal couple, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but this focuses exclusively on The Duke's tenure as Royal Governor of The Bahamas in a tumultuous era during which major events and programs occurred including the murder of Sir Harry Oakes, the richest man in the British Empire at that time, all set against the backdrop of World War II raging in Europe.

This book also stands apart from others because its author, Sir Orville Turnquest, speaks with the authority and credibility of someone who has occupied the very same office as the Duke of Windsor. Sir Orville did not, however, come from a royal or aristocratic family but rather, in sharp contrast to his predecessor, he came from an area of Nassau inhabited by the underprivileged black community and thus provides a perspective that could not be more different from those of a former King of England.

What Manner of Man Is This? is an insider's look at a vital part of Bahamian history with the island nation's emergence from slavery and the African diaspora to a prominent role in world history.

To his credit, Turnquest has written a book that is not a sanitized biography of The Duke of Windsor but rather an incisive examination of a small but enormously important slice of the life of this notorious man, a former King of England. . . . Sir Orville Turnquest, orator, top litigator and esteemed elder statesman as former Governor General and head of state of The Bahamas, has shown the insight and courage to give his country and the world an extraordinary book about a man and a nation that converged at a critical time in global and Bahamian history.

--Sir Sidney Poitier, from the Foreword of What Manner of Man Is This?

An insightful, informative book and important addition to the literature of the development of The Bahamas. . . . Turnquest has produced an easy, readable history of the period, well-informed by his own personal experience as a young black, who overcame the absence of opportunities gifted to the Duke of Windsor to become the Duke's successor in the office of Governor General of an independent Bahamas.

--Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham, Former Prime Minister of The Bahamas

What a fascinating story ...With simple, yet powerful language the author has captured the essence of the life and times of the period factually, graphically and senstively. A great read

--Dame Ivy Dumont, Former Governor General of The Bahamas

The elements could not be more conducive to a fascinating read: a world at war, a sleepy but strategically-located British colony, a great love story, a former king as governor of a tiny colony, the beginning of social upheaval. Sir Orville weaves all these elements together to produce a highly readable book.

--Sir Arthur Foulkes, Former Governor General of The Bahamas

www.grantstownpress.com

This book documents the extent to which merchants have gone to sell a
dream--even if they do not provide the real thing.--Emilio Cueto

Cuba on the Labels: A Selection of Cuba-Themed Cigar Labels Printed Outside of Cuba explores
how the island of Cuba and one of the island's top exports, the Cuban
cigar, have been immortalized in cigar labels created outside the
island. Over three hundred labels are reproduced in large, beautifully
detailed images. Having meticulously collected and researched these
labels over many decades, Emilio Cueto covers the subject
comprehensively. The close-to-original size reproductions allow readers
to admire the labels that show Cuba through the eyes of the cigar label
makers who work outside of Cuba.

Cuba on the Labels is the third book in Cueto's Inspired by Cuba! series. This volume follows his previous Havana cigar book, La Habana también se fuma/Havana is for Smokers (2019). Cuba on the Labels
uniquely contributes to the bibliography of Cuban cigar label art,
highlighting examples produced outside the island that include the words
Cuban, Cuban, or their derivatives on the label. It is, as Cueto
states, certainly, the most thorough [study] ever attempted. It will be
an invaluable reference book.

From the New York Times Bestselling Author of Indian Summer

During the presidencies of Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, the Caribbean was in crisis. While the United States and the Soviet Union acted out the world's tensions on Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, the powerbrokers of these three critical island nations---the Castro brothers, Che Guevara, Rafael Trujillo, and François Papa Doc Duvalier---had ambitions of their own. Steeped in new material and eyewitness reports, Red Heat is an authoritative account of a wildly dramatic and dangerous era of international politics that has unmistakable resonance today.