Since the publication of his book Cuba Between Empires, 1878-1902 in 1983, Louis A. Pérez, Jr., has become one of the most respected Cuban history specialists in the United States and internationally. His professional career reflects the progress of the study of Cuban history in the United States over the past few decades. After the shock in U.S. academe caused by Castro’s revolution, Cuba first became a hot issue for sociologists and political scientists. Then came the historians’ turn. Their scholarship produced hundreds of texts about colonialism, slavery, U.S.-Cuban relations, and the revolution. An important part of this production was Pérez’ work. For this collection, he has chosen 18 of his essays that examine some of the central issues of his Cuban research. The volume divides the essays into three sections: history, historiography, and research.
The first section builds on such essential themes as the U.S. intervention in 1898, Cuban emigration to the United States at the end of the nineteenth century, and Cuban army policies after Castro’s revolution. These themes lead to the exploration of important processes, such as the forging of the Cuban nation, the quest for national identity, and the pursuit of self-determination. In this context, Pérez notes, “The proposition of nation has been central to the Cuban ideology of the revolution and, indeed, in no small way accounts for the persistence of the revolutionary impulse. Cubans subsumed into the revolution a historic mission: the redemption of patria, which implied self-determination, independence, and national sovereignty” (p. xi).
In the second section, Pérez looks at the trends in scholarship published in the United States, Cuba, and Spain, as well as other countries, since Castro’s revolution. In essays such as “U.S.-Cuban Relations: A Survey of Twentieth-Century Historiography” and “The Cuban Revolution After Twenty-five Years: A Survey of Sources, Scholarship, and State of the Literature,” and “History, Historiography, and Cuban Studies: A Retrospective,” he observes how historical writing has sought to understand the Cuban past and present.
Historical research on Cuba advanced slowly before the revolution, and then spectacularly thereafter. This was in large part a recognition that the process of radical change drew on historical sources and was itself historic. The revolution served at once as the point of departure and point of destination, and between them developed a literature of enormous vitality and originality. (p. 177)
In the same essay, Pérez appreciates the results of Cuban historical studies but underscores that closer attention is still needed to some issues, such as women and race; and certain time periods, the eighteenth century and the 1940s, among others.
If the first two sections interest all Cubanologists, the third section will be welcomed especially by students and young researchers. It offers guidance to some of the most important archival collections on Cuban history. The second essay in this section, "Record Collections of the Cuban National Archives: A Descriptive Survey,” which is a general guide, is particularly important. The first essay, on the Archivo Nacional, is also generally useful; other essays are aimed at specific issues—Cuba’s Thirty Years’ War, for example. Pérez’ latest book is again a worthy piece of scholarship by any standard. It represents a useful guide for students and an inspiration for all who are interested in Cuban history.
