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89
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
95/100Critics
80/100Scholars
94/100Author:
Ada Ferrer
Publisher:
Scribner
Date:
September 7, 2021
Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for History. A new history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United States, from before the arrival of Columbus to the present day.
What The Reviewers Say
Deftly and without fanfare, Ferrer upends the 1898 narrative of the United States as Cuba’s savior with an episode from 1781, just prior to the Battle of Yorktown.
Ferrer turns to the island story, packing five centuries into concise chapters brimming with vivid detail and terrific page-turning momentum.
Ferrer’s retelling of these wars’ events from an updated, more nuanced perspective will bring a fresh view to history you thought you already knew. The narrative is often simplified as 'the United States saved Cuba,' but Ferrer’s look at the Spanish-American War frames it as the point at which relations between the two countries finally began to sour.
It was probably a mistake to adopt such a longue durée...the preceding period is largely irrelevant to Ms. Ferrer’s theme of Cuban-U.S. relations, and her knowledge of it is flimsy.
