This excellent history of pre-Castro Cuba was published in honor of its co-author, one of Cuba’s ablest historians, who is now in exile. Emeterio S. Santovenia made his first contribution to Cuban historiography in 1910, became one of the académicos de número of the Cuban Academy of History, and later served as its president for seventeen years. At the time of his exile in 1962 Santovenia’s historical bibliography had risen to 116 works, not to mention the 88 volumes of writings of José Martí published by the firm which he founded or the hundreds of radio and television broadcasts and periodical contributions to historical literature. In the meantime he had helped to make Cuban history in such offices as senator and minister of state. He has now joined forces with a younger Cuban historian-sociologist-geographer (also in exile) to produce this history for “los cubanos que se han visto obligados a abandonar su isla amada, donde han dejados afectos recuerdos, tradiciones familiares y raíces patrias.” The volumes are particularly dedicated “a los padres, y aún más, a los niños cubanos que crecen y se educan en el ambiente cultural de una tierra que no por hospitalaria deja de sernos extraña” (vol. III, p. xi).
It remains to be seen whether or not the “niños” in question will use this work to steep themselves in the history of the land of their fathers. But the fathers themselves will find here a story that will stir their love for the country which they have lost. This work also merits the attention of serious scholars who would know of the development of Cuba from the prehistoric era to Castro. The body of the text is a scholarly account of the development of Cuban civilization, enlivened by biographical sketches of key personalities in the story. Well-chosen illustrations add charm and value.
Except for the epilogue and the appended chronology of events from January 1, 1959 to December 1, 1965, the whole work might well have been written before Castro became a major factor in Cuban history; in fact, the contents and expressed viewpoints read much like a summary of the ten-volume Historia de la Nación Cubana (Havana, 1952, reviewed in HAHR, XXXIV, 531-533) of which Santovenia was a co-author. Only in the epilogue is there an evaluation of Castro’s impact on Cuba. While critical of the Castro regime and policy, the authors show a surprising lack of bitterness.
Readers familiar with the previous publications of Santovenia and Shelton will find little difficulty in selecting the sections written primarily by each. Shelton’s influence predominates in the treatment of prehistorical Cuba and its geography, while Santovenia contributed more to the chapters on the colonial period proper, the struggles for independence, and the years of the Republic.
