Summary
The most populous nation in the Caribbean, Cuba has played a crucial role in the region and the world. Cuba was Spain's major port of entry for the conquest and plunder of the Americas in the 1500s, and the British Empire, the United States, and the Soviet Union have all had designs on the island.
A Brief History of Cuba explores the history of Cuba from its earliest days prior to the arrival of the Spanish to its period as a colony, through its wars of independence, the rise of Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro, and the post-Castro period. Special attention is paid to the island's economy—particularly its three major industries, rum, sugar, and tobacco—culture, and the relationship between Cuban exiles and Cubans on the island. A Brief History of Cuba provides a comprehensive and accessible account of this island nation's history.
Coverage includes:
- The Ciboney and Taíno cultures
- Spanish colonization of the island
- The evolution of a Cuban identity
- The War of Independence
- The rise of Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro
- The Cuban Revolution of 1959
- Post-Soviet Cuba
- Post-Castro Cuba
- The two Cubas of the 21st century: Communist Cuba and exiled Cubans
Full-color photographs, illustrations, and maps. Bibliography. Suggested reading. Chronology. Sidebars.
About the Author(s)
D.H. Figueredo is a chronicler of Latinx history and culture in the United States and of Cuban history and culture. His books include Vaqueros and Caballeros, Revolvers and Pistolas: Debunking the Old West (2014), A Brief History of the Caribbean (2008), Latino Chronology (2007), and Complete Idiot's Guide to Latino History and Culture (2002). He was the creator and editor of the Encyclopedia of Caribbean Literature (2006) and the Encyclopedia of Cuba (2003). A writer of children's literature, he is the author of several picture books including Road to Santiago (2003), When This World Was New (1999), and the upcoming Manifest Change and The Treasure of the Ancients. He has been director of academic libraries and associations and the Latin American bibliographer at the Research Libraries of New York Public Libraries. Currently, he teaches literature at St. Peter's University, Jersey City.
William A. Morgan is a professor of history at Lone Star College. His research on race, slavery, and emancipation in Latin America and the Atlantic World has been awarded a Lydia Cabrera Fellowship from the Conference on Latin American History, a Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society, and a Mellon/ACLS Faculty Fellowship. His work appears in the volumes Tabaco y Esclavos en los Imperios Ibéricos, American Empire in Global History, and Social Struggle and Civil Society in Nineteenth-Century Cuba, and in the journals Slavery & Abolition, Colonial Latin American Review, Agricultural History, and the Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History. His forthcoming book Cuban Tobacco in the Age of Second Slavery will be published in 2023 by Vanderbilt University Press.