The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics

Published by Duke University Press 2003

The Cuba Reader

History, Culture, Politics

Edited by: Aviva Chomsky , Pamela Maria Smorkaloff , Barry Carr , Robin Kirk and Orin Starn

In the series The Latin America Readers

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822384915

Overview
Contents

About this book

The essential collection of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, journalism, history and cultral writing from and about Cuba. The latest in the series that also includes the Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Peru Readers.

Author / Editor information

Aviva Chomsky is Professor of History and Coordinator of Latin American Studies at Salem State College. She is the author of West Indian Workers and the United Fruit Company in Costa Rica, 1870–1940 and coeditor of Identity and Struggle at the Margins of the Nation-State: The Laboring Peoples of Central America and the Hispanic Caribbean (published by Duke University Press).

Barry Carr is Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of Marxism and Communism in Twentieth-Century Mexico and coeditor of The Latin American Left: From the Fall of Allende to Perestroika.

Pamela Maria Smorkaloff is Director of Latin American and Latino Studies and Assistant Professor of Spanish at Montclair State University. She is the author of Cuban Writers on and off the Island: Contemporary Narrative Fiction and Readers and Writers in Cuba: A Social History of Print Culture, 1830s–1990s and editor of If I Could Write This in Fire: An Anthology of Literature from the Caribbean.

Reviews

“What a beautiful journey through five hundred years of Cuban history, culture, and politics! The Cuba Reader is a sumptuous medley of poetry, song, speeches, interviews, and vignettes from novels new and old. You’ll hear the voices of santeros and sugar workers, prostitutes and politicos, revolutionaries and reporters, dissidents and dancers. It’s the next best thing to being in Cuba, so sit back with a mojito and enjoy the masterfully guided tour.”—Medea Benjamin, activist and cofounder of Global Exchange

"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. Pérez, Jr., author of On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and Culture

"[An] ambitious and impressive anthology, a sweeping collection of source materials by and about Cubans both on the island and living in other countries. The editors . . . have wisely chosen songs, paintings, photographs, short stories, essays, speeches, government reports, cartoons and newspaper articles that span Cuban history. . . . What The Cuba Reader does extraordinarily well is to reveal the nuances and complexity of the Cuban experience. All shades of politics are here, and they infuse Cuban dance, music, film and religion."

-- Susan Fernandez Miami Herald

"[A] crash course in Cuban history. If you’re looking for a single (hefty) volume to get you up to speed about the past 500 years of Cuban politics and culture, this is it."

-- Julie Schwietert Collazo The Guardian

"[A] classic. The editors of this book and their many accomplices deserve nothing but praise for producing the best introduction to Cuba one can possibly find."

-- Gavin O'Toole Latin American Review of Books

"[T]he editors should be congratulated for their Herculean effort. The reader will be most useful for undergraduate courses where it will provide students with an impressive overview of the Cuban experience over the last five centuries. In fact, anyone interested in obtaining a comprehensive and multifaceted firsthand account of Cuban history will benefit from this book."

-- John J. Dwyer The Americas

"This Reader provides a wonderfully eclectic selection of writings from and about Cuba. . . . [A] very useful resource for the teaching of courses relating to Cuba, providing a taster of many aspects of the island's history that should encourage those who dip into it to come away with a more nuanced understanding of an island that has been plagued by caricature."

-- Jonathan Curry-Machado Journal of Latin American Studies

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I Indigenous Society and Conquest
Christopher Columbus ‘‘Discovers’’ Cuba Christopher Columbus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
The Devastation of the Indies Bartolomé de Las Casas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
Spanish Officials and Indigenous Resistance. Various Spanish Officials Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
A World Destroyed Juan Pérez de la Riva Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
‘‘Transculturation’’ and Cuba Fernando Ortiz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
Survival Stories José Barreiro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	28
II Sugar, Slavery, and Colonialism
A Physician’s Notes on Cuba John G. F. Wurdemann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
The Death of the Forest Manuel Moreno Fraginals Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
Autobiography of a Slave Juan Francisco Manzano Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
Biography of a Runaway Slave Miguel Barnet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
Fleeing Slavery Miguel Barnet, Pedro Deschamps Chapeaux, Rafael García and Rafael Duharte Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
Santiago de Cuba’s Fugitive Slaves Rafael Duharte Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Rumba Yvonne Daniel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
The Trade in Chinese Laborers Richard Dana Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
Life on a Coffee Plantation John G. F. Wurdemann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Cuba’s First Railroad David Turnbull Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	88
The Color Line José Antonio Saco Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
Abolition! Father Félix Varela Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
Cecilia Valdés Cirilo Villaverde Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Sab Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
An Afro-Cuban Poet Plácido Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	110
III The Struggle for Independence
Freedom and Slavery Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Memories of a Cuban Girl Renée Méndez Capote Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
José Martí’s ‘‘Our America’’ José Martí Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
Guantanamera José Martí Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
The Explosion of the Maine. New York Journal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
U.S. Cartoonists Portray Cuba John J. Johnson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
The Devastation of Counterinsurgency. Fifty-fifth Congress, Second Session Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
IV Neocolonialism
The Platt Amendment Theodore Roosevelt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
Imperialism and Sanitation Nancy Stepan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
A Child of the Platt Amendment Renée Méndez Capote Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
Spain in Cuba Manuel Moreno Fraginals Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
The Independent Party of Color. El Partido Independiente de Color Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
A Survivor Isidoro Santos Carrera Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Rachel’s Song Miguel Barnet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
Honest Women Miguel de Carrión Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
Generals and Doctors Carlos Loveira Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
A Crucial Decade Loló de la Torriente Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Afrocubanismo and Son Robin Moore Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	192
Drums in My Eyes Nicolás Guillén Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Abakuá Rafael López Valdés Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
The First Wave of Cuban Feminism Ofelia Domínguez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Life at the Mill Ursinio Rojas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	226
Migrant Workers in the Sugar Industry Leví Marrero Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	234
The Cuban Counterpoint Fernando Ortiz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
The Invasion of the Tourists Rosalie Schwartz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	244
Waiting Tables in Havana Cipriano Chinea Palero and Lynn Geldof Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
The Brothel of the Caribbean Tomás Fernández Robaina Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
A Prostitute Remembers Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis and Susan M. Rigdon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	260
Sugarcane Nicolás Guillén Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	264
Where Is Cuba Headed? Julio Antonio Mella Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
The Chase Alejo Carpentier Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	270
The Fall of Machado R. Hart Phillips Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	274
Sugar Mills and Soviets Salvador Rionda Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
The United States Confronts the 1933 Revolution Sumner Welles and Cordell Hull Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
The Political Gangster Samuel Farber Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287
The United Fruit Company in Cuba Oscar Zanetti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	290
Cuba’s Largest Inheritance. Bohemia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	296
The Last Call Eduardo A. Chibás Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	298
For Us, It Is Always the 26th of July Carlos Puebla Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	300
Three Comandantes Talk It Over Carlos Franqui Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	302
History Will Absolve Me Fidel Castro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	306
Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War Che Guevara Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	315
The United States Rules Cuba, 1952–1958 Morris Morley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	321
The Cuban Story in the New York Times Herbert L. Matthews Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	326
V Building a New Society
And Then Fidel Arrived Carlos Puebla Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	333
Tornado Silvio Rodríguez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	340
Castro Announces the Revolution Fidel Castro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341
How the Poor Got More Medea Benjamin, Joseph Collins and Michael Scott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	344
Fish à la Grande Jardinière Humberto Arenal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	354
Women in the Swamps Margaret Randall Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	363
Man and Socialism Ernesto ‘‘Che’’ Guevara Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	370
In the Fist of the Revolution José Yglesias Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	375
The Agrarian Revolution Medea Benjamin, Joseph Collins and Michael Scott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	378
1961: The Year of Education Richard R. Fagen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	386
The Literacy Campaign Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis and Susan M. Rigdon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	389
The ‘‘Rehabilitation’’ of Prostitutes Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis and Susan M. Rigdon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	395
The Family Code Margaret Randall Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	399
Homosexuality, Creativity, Dissidence Reinaldo Arenas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	406
The Original Sin Pablo Milanés Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	412
Where the Island Sleeps Like a Wing Nancy Morejón Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	414
Silence on Black Cuba Carlos Moore Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	419
Black Man in Red Cuba John Clytus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	424
Post-modern Maroon in the Ultimate Palenque Christian Parenti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	427
From Utopianism to Institutionalization Juan Antonio Blanco and Medea Benjamin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	433
Carlos Puebla Sings about the Economy Carlos Puebla Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	443
VI Culture and Revolution
Caliban Roberto Fernández Retamar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	449
For an Imperfect Cinema Julio García Espinosa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	458
Dance and Social Change Yvonne Daniel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	466
Revolutionary Sport Paula Pettavino and Geralyn Pye Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	475
Mea Cuba Guillermo Cabrera Infante Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	481
In Hard Times Heberto Padilla Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	488
The Virgin of Charity of Cobre, Cuba’s Patron Saint Olga Portuondo Zúñiga Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	490
A Conversation on Santería and Palo Monte Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis and Susan M. Rigdon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	498
The Catholic Church and the Revolution Ernesto Cardenal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	505
Havana’s Jewish Community Tom Miller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	509
VII The Cuban Revolution and the World
The Venceremos Brigades Sandra Levinson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	515
The Cuban Revolution and the New Left Van Gosse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	526
The U.S. Government Responds to Revolution. Foreign Relations of the United States Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	530
Castro Calls on Cubans to Resist the Counterrevolution Fidel Castro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	536
Operation Mongoose Edward Lansdale Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	540
Offensive Missiles on That Imprisoned Island John F. Kennedy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	544
Inconsolable Memories: A Cuban View of the Missile Crisis Edmundo Desnoes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	547
The Assassination Plots Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	552
Cuban Refugee Children Bryan O. Walsh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	557
From Welcomed Exiles to Illegal Immigrants Félix Roberto Masud-Piloto Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	561
Wrong Channel Roberto Fernández Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	566
We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? Achy Obejas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	568
City on the Edge Alejandro Portes and Alex Stepick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	581
Singing for Nicaragua Silvio Rodríguez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	588
Cuban Medical Diplomacy Julie Feinsilver Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	590
VIII The ‘‘Período Especial’’ and the Future of the Revolution
Silvio Rodríguez Sings of the Special Period Silvio Rodríguez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	595
From Communist Solidarity to Communist Solitary Susan Eckstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	607
The Revolution Turns Forty Saul Landau Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	623
Colonizing the Cuban Body G. Derrick Hodge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	628
Pope John Paul II Speaks in Cuba John Paul ii Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	635
Emigration in the Special Period Steve Fainaru and Ray Sánchez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	637
The Old Man and the Boy John Lee Anderson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	644
Civil Society Haroldo Dilla Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	650
Forty Years Later Senel Paz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	660
A Dissident Speaks Out Elizardo Sánchez Santacruz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	664
One More Assassination Plot Juan Tamayo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	666
An Errand in Havana Miguel Barnet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	671
No Turning Back for Johnny David Mitrani Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	678
Suggestions for Further Reading Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	691
Acknowledgment of Copyrights Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	701
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	713

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 736
Illustrations
- Other: 94 illustrations

eBook

Published: February 4, 2004
ISBN: 9780822384915