The historical literature on the Cuban Revolution is so vast that it can be difficult to know where to start. Antoni Kapcia's A Short History of Revolutionary Cuba is therefore a welcome, up-to-date primer on Cuba's history leading up to, and since, 1959. Far from a straightforward recitation of dates and events, however, the book advances several core arguments that will challenge beginning and expert readers alike.
The first concerns periodization. Rather than dividing the history of the Cuban Revolution into “phases”—for instance, experimentation in the 1960s, followed by institutionalization in the 1970s—Kapcia orients his narrative around recurring “debates” and “strategies” (p. 40). By “debates” he means disputes over the direction of policy (especially, but not solely, related to the economy). “Strategies,” then, refer to periods in which the results of “debates” appeared to be settled and the focus was on implementation. At times like the early 1960s, though, government...
