Fermín Peraza prepared thirty-one annual bibliographical guides for Cuba before his death as an exile in Miami during 1969. The 1967 volume, his last, is the second in the series to be published by the Center for Advanced International Studies of the University of Miami. The guide contains 911 entries arranged alphabetically by author, with many items published prior to 1967.
A shortcoming of the work is its failure to indicate criteria for selection of materials; for instance, why include The World Almanac? Another weakness of the Guide is its repetition of author’s names in the “Analytical Index,” without an alphabetical listing of most of the titles appearing in the text. On the positive side indexing by subject helps. A few of the entries are annotated, such as Dade County’s auditorium schedule of coming events, 1967-1968, (“Includes Cuban Shows”), but most entries are left to the imagination of the reviewer. Should we know, for instance, what Francisco Díaz’ Anales de los Cakchequeles is all about?
In tribute to Peraza one must conclude that his contributions to Cuban bibliography will serve as a lasting monument, for no other bibliographies on Cuba match his in comprehensiveness. Hopefully, however, future volumes in the series by the Center will show more discriminating selection, annotation, and organization.
