Customer Reviews

Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban-American Way

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After buying many Gustavo Perez Firmat books to glean in preparing to write my senior thesis on Cuban-American identity, I grew to love this man's work. Perez Firmat is honest, creative, educated, and experienced! An exile himself, he is able to back up his analysis of the exile experience with his own history.

This book stands out above his other works as the most significant. In it, he relates ideas about the exile experience, such as his exposition of what it means to live "on the hyphen," and the extent of the challenges that exiled children face (the 1.5 Generation). Perez Firmat applies theory to 20th Century Cuban-American examples.

This is a powerhouse in the world of Cuban-American Studies. It is written by a man in high standing academea (current professor at Columbia Univ.), but the book speaks in clear, concise language that can be enjoyed by anyone interested in the topic. I highly recommend the book and hope that you will use this book as a jumping point to read Perez Firmat's other books.

Every Cuban immigrant who arrives in this country searching for political asylum, has tons of personal stories to share with the American people regarding oppression, persecution, torture, and the violation of human rights.

As I finished reading Perez-Firmat's book "Life on the Hyphen," I couldn't help but wonder what percentage of today's Americans, especially the young, would listen and learn from our experiences if for no other reason, at least to ensure they don't repeat the same mistakes or underestimate the evil powers that threaten our democracy now more than ever.

I also realized that with the passage of time there will be less and less Cuban-Americans able to share their individual experiences about pre-revolution life in Cuba, under communist dictatorship, and ultimately, the struggles of Cuban exiles to assimilate the American culture without losing their genuine Cuban values and identities.

If nowaday Americans would pay serious attention to our fifty-year plight and to the lessons learned as a result, they would appreciate much more what America means to us immigrants and to the world at large. Let's just hope the Cuban tragedy does not repeat itself in the land of the free.

In the words of Jorge Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."


Andrew J. Rodriguez
Award-winning author: "Adios, Havana," a Memoir.