Ada Ferrer - Cuba: An American History

A page-turning masterpiece rarely is good history this kind of literary performance.

David W. Blight, Yale University, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

An American History

Cuba

Ada Ferrer

Ada Ferrers astonishing Cuba succeeds brilliantly with an original approach, written in two voices folded together seamlesslyone personal, from the depths of family transplantation, and the other a historians lyrical narrative. She captures the epic sweep of the islands story of slavery, massive sugar production, colonialism, and revolution. But she also shows how Cuba and the United States have long been joined at the hip in shared culture, political crises, and tragedy for the famous and the ordinary. Ferrers own heavy inheritance is North Americas as well. Above all, Ferrer has achieved a page-turning masterpiece of her craft; rarely is good history this kind of literary performance.

David W. Blight, Yale University, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

With singular mastery and insight, Ada Ferrer reconstructs the intertwined histories of Cuba and the United States. It is an intimate and timely story, of conflict and misunderstandings, but also of opportunities and possibilities.

Alejandro de la Fuente, Afro-Latin American Research Institute, Harvard University

Ada Ferrer makes Cubas American history come to life. Whatever you may think of the politics around Cuba, its rich and complex history and that of its people is told here in a thoughtful and compelling way, with revealing detail, deep research, and beautiful writing.

Soledad OBrien, host of Matter of Fact with Soledad OBrien and coauthor of Latino in America and The Next Big Story

Ada Ferrer has written a sweeping, beautiful, and indispensable history of an endlessly fascinating country. Cuba captures the breadth and emotion of the story of a small country that has been at the center of so many major events shaping our world.

Ben Rhodes, author of After the Fall: Being American in the World Weve Made

So near and yet so far. We think we know Cuba but this book reveals that we have never grasped its epic and frequently tragic history. Ada Ferrer offers us the penetrating perspective of someone who is neither the complete insider nor the complete outsider, but who cares passionately about Cuba and its confounding entanglement with the United States.

Lynn Hunt, author of History: Why It Matters

In clear and elegant prose, Ada Ferrer, a leading historian of Cuba, vividly brings to life the history of Cuba. I now have an unequivocal answer to those who ask me to recommend a book that will introduce them to the island nation, as well as a clear choice when selecting a text that will engage my students in the dramatic story of Cuba.

Lisandro Prez, author of the award-winning Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution: The Making of Cuban New York

With deft prose and a subtle sensibility, Ada Ferrer narrates the intimate, intertwined histories of the United States and its island neighbor Cuba. Antonio Maceo, Jos Mart, and others sought to transform the Spanish colony into a cross-racial republic, while thwarting US intrusion into the larger Americas. But powerful outsiders have presumed the right to shape events on the island, and found domestic allies willing to assist. As Ferrers delicate stories of ordinary people unfold alongside the doings of visionaries and politicians on both sides of the Straits of Florida, she wonders: Could there eventually emerge a mutual respect that might save our respective rulers from folly?

Rebecca J. Scott, author of Degrees of Freedom: Louisiana and Cuba after Slavery

Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 18681898

Freedoms Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution

Scribner

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Copyright 2021 by Ada Ferrer

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First Scribner hardcover edition September 2021

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Interior design by Wendy Blum

Jacket design by Jaya Miceli

Jacket artwork by Dea/G. Dagli Orti/Getty Images;

Lettering by Sheridan Libraries/Levy/Gado/Getty Images

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ferrer, Ada, author. Title: Cuba : an American history / Ada Ferrer. Description: First Scribner hardcover edition. | New York ; London : Scribner, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021020533 (print) | LCCN 2021020534 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501154553 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501154577 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: CubaHistory. | CubaForeign relationsUnited States. | United StatesForeign relationsCuba. Classification: LCC F1776 .F397 2021 (print) | LCC F1776 (ebook) | DDC 972.91dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021020533

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021020534

ISBN 978-1-5011-5455-3

ISBN 978-1-5011-5457-7 (ebook)

For my father, Ramn Ferrer, siempre presente

To the memory of:

My mother, Adelaida Ferrer (19262020), whom I adored

My half brothers, Hiplito Cabrera (19532020) and Juan Jos Gonzlez (19462009), both left behind

My aunt, Ada Fernndez (19302017), who welcomed me back

For my sister, Aixa, born here, and for Nailah, her daughter

For my husband, Gregg, and my daughters, Alina and Luca, with all my love. In more ways than one, this is their story, too.

C uba: An American History tells the story of a tropical island that sits between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, not far from the United States. It is a history of more than half a millennium, from before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the death of Fidel Castro and beyond. Yet, for a history so sweeping in scope, this is also a deeply personal book.

I was born in Havana between the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. My father was in New York, having left the island a few months earlier. My mother went into labor alone and hailed herself a cab to Workers Maternity. The hospitals name fit the moment; Cuba was, after all, in the throes of a radical revolution, avowedly socialist and stridently anti-imperialist. Yet the hospital had been built two decades earlier under the rule of Fulgencio Batista, the very dictator Castro unseated in 1959. Monumental in size and style, the hospital won architecture awards when it was built. Its most emblematic feature towers over the main entrance, a soaring ceramic statue of a mother and child created by Teodoro Ramos Blanco, a Black sculptor who was among Cubas most renowned artists. That morning in June 1962, my mother paused and looked up at the statue as if in prayer before entering the hospital to give birth. Ten months later, she left Cuba, statuesque in her heels and with me an infant in her arms.