Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution (Latin American Histories) [Paperback]

Louis A. Pï¿1/2rez Jr. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195094824 | ISBN-13: 978-0195094824 | Publication Date: November 23, 1995 | Edition: 2

Spanning the history of the island from pre-Columbian times to the present, this highly acclaimed survey examines Cuba's political and economic development within the context of its international relations and continuing struggle for self-determination. The dualism that emerged in Cuban ideology--between liberal constructs of patria and radical formulations of nationality --is fully investigated as a source not only of national tension but of competing notions of liberty, equality, and justice which would eventually determine the form and function of Cuban mobilization. Perez integrates local and provincial developments with issues of class, race, and gender to give students a full and fascinating account of the Cuban history of struggle for nationality. The new, second edition includes the latest research on Cuba, adding a new chapter on the political and economic changes that have occurred since the Soviet Union stopped subsidizing for the Cuban economy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for the previous edition:

"Elegant in style, impressive in documentation, balanced in coverage, this book is probably the best single-volume study of Cuban history available....A marvelous synthesis of the latest and best scholarship...a highly recommended addition to any library."--Choice

About the Author

Louis A. Perez, J. Carlyle Sitterson Professor of History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (November 23, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195094824
• ISBN-13: 978-0195094824
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,376,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Cuban history book available, March 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution (Latin American Histories) (Paperback)

I read this book 8 years ago (the first edition) and still remember it as being the best Cuban history book available. Perez tells Cuba's history thoroughly, using fascinating details and stories, and does a masterful job at explaining the main tendencies in the island's history. His writing is clear, entertaining and well-referenced. His political position does not dominate his account either and refrains from bashing or glorifying the revolutionary period. If I was going to suggest only one book on Cuba's history, it would be this one. (And I've read most of what's available)

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cuba, from A to Z, July 1, 2004

By 

AMD - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution (Latin American Histories) (Paperback)

This is a history book, wonderfully thorough, that unfortunately at times takes on the disguise of a dozen monographs torn apart and chronologically slapped back together into one volume. It is an appropriate jumping-off point for further study of Cuba.

What Perez presents in Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution is a book that few students of Cuban history can write: it is unbiased. My political and emotional perspective on Cuba is strong and personal, yet try as I may, the two times I've read this book, I did not ever find it tarnished by the rhetoric of propagandists.

I recommend this book to teachers and professors searching for a complete and honest history of Cuba for classroom use, and to independent students and learners who really want a strong background knowledge on the long history of Cuba.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an authoritative work from a respected academic, September 23, 2011

By 

Jose G. Perez (Decatur, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution (Paperback)

At least two reviews have been posted recently claiming Professor Perez is wrong about the facts he offers on social and economic conditions in Cuba before the victory of the revolution in 1959. I have placed a comment under the more extensive of the two challenges, but I want to alert others who may not look at the comments to the reviews, that in general, but especially on Cuba and its revolution, a subject on which feelings run very deep, a challenge to factual material presented by a leading academic expert such as Professor Perez (no relation to this writer) cannot be credited unless the source is given, and preferably a reliable or authoritative source that can be independently verified.

In this case, the author of the longer challenge writes with such assertiveness and specific detail that I imagined I was reading first hand testimony from someone who was there, although the reviewer doesn't say that. Even then, on Cuba, such accounts need to be taken with a grain of salt and the person should be encouraged to provide authoritative or reliable and verifiable sources to corroborate at least the overall picture they are presenting if not all the specific details.

But as it turns out, in the case of the comment that challenges Professor Perez so vigorously, it comes from someone whose profile page has another review where he makes it clear he was born in 1973. He is in his 30s, but he'd need to be well past retirement age to know from personal experience the assertions he makes challenging Professor Perez on the facts about Cuba in the late 1950s. Yet the critic provided no sources.

Among many of us Cuban emigres (and our descendants) a myth has developed that I would caricature as, "Nothing was wrong with Cuba before 1959; nothing has been right ever since." But that is more a reflection of the depth of feeling about the Cuban Revolution from those who were negatively impacted than a true portrait of what the island was then and what has happened since. (And feelings run just as deeply on the other side, too.)

As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." Professor Perez's record and standing in the academic community makes his book authoritative. I would completely discount those kinds of negative reviews claiming the book is inaccurate until and unless they are backed up with sources.