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In the mid-nineteenth century, some of Cuba's most influential writers settled in U.S. cities and published a variety of newspapers, pamphlets, and books. Collaborating with military movements known as filibusters, this generation of exiled writers created a body of literature demanding Cuban independence from Spain and alliance with or annexation to the United States.

Drawing from rare materials in the United States and Havana, Rodrigo Lazo offers new readings of work by writers such as Cirilo Villaverde, Juan Clemente Zenea, Pedro Santacilia, and Miguel T. Tol³n. Lazo argues that to understand these writers and their publications, we must move beyond nation-based models of literary study and consider their connections to both Cuba and the United States. Anchored by the publication of Spanish- and English-language newspapers in the United States, the transnational culture of writers Lazo calls los filibusteros went hand in hand with a long-standing economic flow between the countries and was spurred on by the writers' belief in the American promise of freedom and the hemispheric ambitions of the expansionist U.S. government. Analyzing how U.S. politicians, journalists, and novelists debated the future of Cuba, Lazo argues that the war of words carried out in Cuban-U.S. print culture played a significant role in developing nineteenth-century conceptions of territory, colonialism, and citizenship. ... Read more

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WRITING TO CUBA BY RODRIGO LAZO
Writing to Cuba Filibustering and Cuban Exiles in the United States.
The book deals with Cuban writers living and writing in the United States starting in the late 1840s and 1850s: Teurbe Tolon, Cirilo Villaverde,Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros, Juan Clemente Zenea, Jose Marti, Pedro Santacilia, etc. They wrote poetry,novels, newspapers articles, and pamphlets,grouped and organized Cuban exiles in the United States and through their writings and actions spread the ideas of anexionism and political independence to Cubans living in the United Staes and Cuba. I have never read a book so well documented dealing with the influence of these men in the destiny of Cuba.
Buy it, its unique! Andres ... Read more

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A photographic essay on the Cuban Literacy Campaign of 1961 ... Read more

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Analyzing the crucial period of the Cuban Revolution from 1959 to 1961, Samuel Farber challenges dominant scholarly and popular views of the revolution's sources, shape, and historical trajectory. Unlike many observers, who treat Cuba's revolutionary leaders as having merely reacted to U.S. policies or domestic socioeconomic conditions, Farber shows that revolutionary leaders, while acting under serious constraints, were nevertheless autonomous agents pursuing their own independent ideological visions, although not necessarily according to a master plan.

Exploring how historical conflicts between U.S. and Cuban interests colored the reactions of both nations' leaders after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista, Farber argues that the structure of Cuba's economy and politics in the first half of the twentieth century made the island ripe for radical social and economic change, and the ascendant Soviet Union was on hand to provide early assistance. Taking advantage of recently declassified U.S. and Soviet documents as well as biographical and narrative literature from Cuba, Farber focuses on three key years to explain how the Cuban rebellion rapidly evolved from a multiclass, antidictatorial movement into a full-fledged social revolution. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good solid information
This writer gives an objective summary of the Cuban revolution, with precipitating events going back to the 1930's and further.It was very informative, with a minimum of spin and an obvious grounding in research.The author lets you make up your own mind, which I appreciated.

The thing the book doesn't do much is bring Cuban history to life.I'm sure there are many stories about Castro and others that could add color to the story.Only a few of these are included. ... Read more

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The Cuban missile crisis was the most dangerousconfrontation of the Cold War and the most perilous moment in humanhistory.Sheldon M. Stern, longtime historian at the John F. KennedyLibrary, here presents a comprehensive narrative account of the secretExComm meetings, making the inside story of the missile crisiscompletely understandable to general readers for the first time.Theauthor 's narrative version of these discussions is entirely new; itprovides readers with a running commentary on the issues and optionsdiscussed and enables them, as never before, to follow specific themesand the role of individual participants.The narrative highlights keymoments of stress, doubt, decision, and resolution—and evenhumor— and makes the meetings comprehensible both to readers wholived through the crisis and to those too young to remember the ColdWar. Stern demonstrates that JFK, a seasoned Cold Warrior who boresome of the responsibility for precipitating the crisis,consistently steered policy makers away from an apocalyptic nuclearconflict, which he called, with stark eloquence, "the finalfailure." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

So close.
I lived through this as a high school student but never realized just how close to nuclear war we really came.

WHEN OUR MORAL, POLITICAL, MILITARY, DIPLOMATIC, PRESIDENTIAL & ELECTED LEADERSHIP STRUGGLED FOR WAYS TO KEEP US OUT OF WAR
This book may be the most readable (for being a narrative) account of those challenging days when our great and elected President brought us back from the brink of nuclear war and possible annihilation as a nation, as a people, as a species.

Thus this thick book may further serve as a solid introduction to the primary sources of that time, from Tuesday, October 16th through Monday, October 29th, 1962, now 45 years ago. We must have a national celebration and commemoration of the President who kept us OUT of war and the world from bloodshed. Read this book to learn how and why.

Sheldon Stern is an academic professional historian who took early retirement to write this book as the EXComm tapes became declassified. He therefore places these tapes within their historical context, fully presenting their background, as well as providing a learned and helpful running commentary throughout his presentation of the transcript. He also provides a technical analysis of the transcript, including its reliability and validity, and the peer-review process by which it was developed. For instance he provides an interesting analysis of alternative interpretations of some points in the tape, and thereby the alternative political implications, and also reflects upon the technical quality of the recordings.

All in all, this is an excellent presentation of those courageous days in every aspect, and probably their best general presentation, comprehensive while accessible to the general reader. Certainly it will present a purpose for further study of other historical documents from that crucial period in which our President kept us out of war, which he termed the "final failure," and recalls to our hearts a time of great, serious, intent, decisive, moral, experienced, humane, elected, wise and intelligent leadership concerned for the safety and well-being of all people, sadly lacking since.

The REAL insider story of the Missiles of October...
This is the book, I'd wager, that everyone thought they were getting when they purchased "The Kennedy Tapes" (Zelikow and May, 1997 Harvard Press). After struggling through that seminal work, the need for a narrative form of this compelling side of the Missile Crisis was palpable...fortunately, retired JFK Library historian Sheldon Stern also saw the need and completed what was clearly a passionate "life's work" with "Averting the Final Failure". Stern takes years of study and scrutinization of the White House tapes that eavesdropped on the EXCOMM (Executive Committee of the National Security Council) as they advised and debated the day-to-day issues associated with the Crisis and turned a complex story into an amazingly lucid and cogent narrative that should become THE source for White House activities during the Crisis.

Newly declassified and available, Stern has added immensly to the growing amount of literature/transcripts of these profound tapes. The difference here is that Stern is clearly the one who has spent the most time and study on these tapes and, coupled with his surprisingly apt story-telling capability, has developed an authoritative work that defines the "who? what? where? when? and how?" of the Kennedy advisor "inner-workings". Time and again, Stern destroys myths and legends as his narrative describes each meeting and the theme that each one invoked. He interprets each discussion and adds his own attempt at tone and voice inflection to give not only the content of the discussion, but the "atmosphere" as well. The result is almost as good as hearing the tapes themselves...giving the true feel for what these "Best and Brightest" advisors went through.

The story of course has been told time and again...Soviet leader Nikita Khrushev surreptitiously installs nuclear capable missiles and the associated warheads in Communist ally Cuba and this subversion is discovered with American U2 spy plane photography. The subsequent actions taken by the U.S. government are fortunately recorded on a complex White House taping system by President John Kennedy, thus providing an invaluable insight into this provocative period in the Cold War. Unfortunately, these recordings leave much to be desired in terms of quality and many have attempted to transcibe them into a useful tool for historians. The "Kennedy Tapes" book attempted to publish the full transcriptions, but this work was so disjointed that it tended to confuse more than educate. Stern, having initially supported this effort by Zelikow and May, becomes more and more dismayed with the quality of this transcribing work and decides to offer his own interpretation of the tapes and the Crisis. Having spent many years analyzing them (long before they were declassified) he provides an amazing insight and scholarship, while clearing up many "unclear" voice transcriptions.

Taking all this information and recognizing that just another publication of transcripts would not be useful, he decides on a version that describes these actions on the tapes in narrative form. He clears up the collateral chatter and keeps a thematic focus on the narrative and comes up with a wonderfully clear and concise coverage of this event. More than just an interpretation of tapes, Stern also accompanies the narrative with a surprisingly readable summary of events and, happily, a destruction of many of the afore mentioned myths that have survived throughout the years. Well known Crisis stories such as Robert Kennedy's "hawkish" anti-Communist stance, the deception and negotiations of the agreement to extract nuclear missiles from Turkey as a trade for extraction of the missiles from Cuba and the continued iintransigence of Fidel Castro and the Cuban government are denounced here by Stern...offering a new and embellished perspective on the Crisis. Kenndy's "free-wheeling" meeting style is amazingly supported by the tapes and stand in stark contrast to the popular theme presented in such movies as "The Missiles of October" and "Thirteen Days"...an example being JFK's response to the shooting down of an American U2 spy plane at the height of the Crisis on October 27th...the movie version has JFK and the EXCOMM loudly debating retaliatory responses when in reality JFK's calm and measured response was: "...this is an escalation by them isn't it?" and the meeting went on.

"Averting the Final Failure" comes 42 years following the denouement of the Missile Crisis and thouroughly ties together all loose ends associated with White House activities during those heady 13 days. This is an important and monumental addition to the vast amount of literature available on the Crisis and should be considered the first reference used by historians for the White House perspective of the Crisis...I would overwhelmingly recommend this work to anyone interested in those activities in October, 1962.

Very Readable!
While reading Sheldon Stern's book, I felt as if I were having a conversation with him. Relating the facts of that event in a manner and detail that made this reader want to know what came next was a gift!Detailed, yes; comprehensive, yes; accurate, no doubt!

History At It's Best
History has two definitions: a chronological record of significant past events, and a story. Sheldon Stern's story of the Cuban Missile Crisis is history (both definitions) at its best. The scholarly, time-consuming, and meticulous research that went into this work abounds throughout its pages. The author's willingness to challenge earlier historical works on the translation of the crisis's audiotapes makes this book a must for any student of JFK, his administration, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Because of the comprehensive nature of history, a reader might conclude that this is just another dry historical work. Far from it - this book reads like a Robert Ludlum novel. The reader is caught in the tension as the missiles are first discovered, held as the conflict escalates to an almost unbearable crisis, and released as the resolution unfolds. But this was no political thriller, it was real life. Mr. Stern has taught us all a great lesson of history: that real people make real decisions, that these decisions have consequences both foreseen and unforeseen, and that there could have been other choices made with different outcomes. Our world would be a much different place if JFK had listened to his advisors. I believe this book will become the classic study for the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Averting the Final Failure is a must read. ... Read more

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65 pages in english. ... Read more

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Chapters: Politics of Cuba, Cuban Law, Captaincy General of Cuba, Intelligence Directorate, Corruption in Cuba, Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, Council of Ministers of Cuba, Constitution of Cuba, National Assembly of People's Power, President of Cuba, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, Cubavision International, Council of State of Cuba, List of Prime Ministers of Cuba, Pentarchy of 1933, List of Foreign Ministers of Cuba, Prime Minister of Cuba, Water Privatization in Cuba, Supreme Court of Cuba, Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, Cuban Passport, Department of Revolutionary Orientation. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 85. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: This article is part of the series:Politics and government ofCuba Democracy and human rights Foreign relations Cuba is constitutionally defined as a "socialist state guided by the principles of José Martí, and the political ideas of Marx, the father of communist states, Engels and Lenin." The present Constitution also ascribes the role of the Communist Party of Cuba to be the "leading force of society and of the state." Cuba is the only authoritarian country in the Americas, according to the 2008 Democracy Index. Cuba's extensive censorship system was close to North Korea on the 2008 Press Freedom Index. The media is operated under the Communist Partys Department of Revolutionary Orientation, which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies". According to Maria Werlau, the extreme concentration of power to Castro family seems comparable in modern times only to that of North Korea under the regimes of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung. Executive power is exercised by the Cuban Government, which is represented by the Council of State and the Council of Ministers. Legislative power is exercised through the un...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=73249 ... Read more

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This groundbreaking story is told through Bernardo Benes—a lawyer who joined the refugee exodus from Castro's Cuba in 1960. Benes quickly became one of the leading voices advocating the integration of Cubans into the city's Anglo, old-boy power structure. In 1978, Cuban Intelligence recruited him as an emissary between the Carter administration and Cuba. He did the same for the CIA under Reagan in the early 1980s. In all, Benes made seventy-five secret trips to meet with high-ranking Cuban officials, spending about 150 hours face-to-face with Fidel Castro. The 1978 dialogue resulted in the release of 3,600 Cuban political prisoners and the right for Cuban exiles to visit family members on the island.
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Customer Reviews (9)

Customer Service
Excellent delivery time, reasonably priced, and great book - had the opportunity in talking with the author.He is a very kind man who was very helpful

From Heroism to Heartbreak
Now that the agreement to allow Cuban Americans to visit their families in Cuba has been significantly scaled back by President George Bush, it is fascinating to consider how many Cuban Americans are correctly bewailing the loss of a right brokered for them by the very man they shunned for making the visits possible: Bernardo Benes.

This book tells the story of Bernardo Benes and the times and circumstances in which he operated.We learn of his boyhood in Cuba, his flight to Miami as a young man, his financial successes and humanitarian work in Miami and the deserved notoriety he received.We also learn about his secret missions to Cuba at the USA's behest, his frequent conversations and negotiations with Castro, and how his considerable accomplishments in these matters cost him dearly in the exile community, even endangering his life.Although the author often strikes an oddly detached tone in his descriptions of the violent and inquisitorial nature of some elements of the Cuban exile community, he provides all the salient details and history.

By book's end, readers are left wondering why Bernardo Benes isn't esteemed as a great hero in the Cuban-American community.It is here we realize that the real main character of this true tale is the Cuban exile community, not Bernardo Benes, and how their grievance long nurtured by hatred, violence, and dogmatic conformity distorts a hero's triumph into heartbreak.

Exposes the power of the anti-Castro lobby
This story needs to be told. It shows how powerful Miami Cubans not only punished the man responsible for the process of dialogue that led to the release of prisoners from Castro's jails, but essentially elected George W. Bush president in the astonishing electoral race of that year in Florida.

An astonishing human story among Cuban exiles
I was moved by the travails of Bernardo Benes,who put his life and family at risk because insensitive right-wingers in the Cuban exile community in Miami turned him into a paraih because he dared talk with Cuba's Castro in behalf of political prisoners and dialogue.

Excellent, probing, fascinating book
This book masterfully exposes the venality of the right-wing Cuban exile power brokers, especially the suffocating voices of Spanish-language radio in Miami. I can attest to the fact that the book is wholly on the mark. It reveals details about the exile experience that are astonishing, and also very sad. This is the best book I have ever read on the subject, and also on the precarious, often bad-faith relationship between Washington D.C. and Havana. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Florida Bar News, published by Thomson Gale on December 1, 2007. The length of the article is 1321 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Key Largo lawyer rescues Cuban migrants.
Author: Jan Pudlow
Publication: Florida Bar News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 34Issue: 23Page: 24(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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This comprehensive electronic book on DVD-ROM presents a complete collection of declassified documents released by the National Security Agency (NSA) on a wide variety of topics: NSA Technical Journal Articles, Military Cryptanalysis, Cryptologic Histories, Gulf of Tonkin, U.S.S. Liberty, VENONA, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), the John F. Kennedy Assassination, the Truman Memorandum of October 1952, Cryptologic Quarterly Articles, Cryptologic Spectrum Articles, Communication Intelligence Board, Oral History Interviews, and the Soviet C-130 Shootdown, plus an index of over 4000 entries containing earlier declassified documents.In addition to the declassified documents, there is extensive coverage of the National Security Agency (NSA), with information on all aspects of the agency, including cryptology, information assurance, history, work with academia, careers, client and partner support, cryptologic heritage, doing business with the NSA, work with small business, strategic plan, values, opportunities, green commitment, Central Security Service (CSS), and public information.

The value of the contemporary coverage is enhanced by the inclusion of comparative material from 2003 and 2006.

According to the National Security Agency, they are "America's Codemakers and Codebreakers - NSA is the Nation's cryptologic organization. NSA creates decisive U.S. strategic and tactical advantage by providing otherwise denied information to U.S. decision makers while at the same time denying access to U.S. information and information systems by America's adversaries. The ability to understand the secret communications of our foreign adversaries while protecting our own communications - a capability in which the United States leads the world - gives our Nation a unique advantage. Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and Information Assurance (IA) complement each other. SIGINT gives the Nation an information advantage over its adversaries. IA prevents others from gaining advantage over us. Together the two missions promote a single goal: information superiority for America and its allies. Today's complete reliance on critical information systems has fundamentally altered the Nation's requirements for information systems security. The need to protect vital information has become essential. By using the most sophisticated networked information systems in the world, U.S. leaders and military are able to gather, understand, and use information better and faster than any potential adversary. This is the information advantage that must be protected. In the past, the Information Assurance Directorate of the National Security Agency produced "black boxes," cryptographic gear that secured point-to-point communication links and paper keying material to be used with them. Simply, security equated to "confidentiality," and systems were not interconnected. But technology evolved, and so did services, as NSA moved from Communications Security (COMSEC), to Information Systems Security (INFOSEC), to Information Assurance (IA). The needs of today's world are different, and so is IA. NSA protects information today with a mix of commercial and government solutions, based on a defense-in-depth strategy - multiple roadblocks between critical systems and the adversaries who would exploit them, layers of security technologies and services within an information device, system, or infrastructure. This approach enables customers to use those security layers that are appropriate for their particular risk management profile and budgetary constraints. No longer are they forced to adopt the "one-size-fits-all" model from the past. This defense-in-depth strategy combines people, technology, and operations."

... Read more