Will I love Cuba?

The idea here is brilliant and really succeeds: the author tells the history of Cuba, while placing it within the context of American history. Cuba has a long and painful history in relation to the United States, and this book is essential to understanding it. I honestly wish every American would read it.

Anyone interested in learning about any part of the history of Cuba should start with Ada Ferrer’s magnificent, Pulitzer Prize-winning Cuba: An American History. Ferrer is one of the premier historians of Cuba in the world, and an excellent writer as well. In Cuba, she begins with her own birth on the island, and then spans the history of her homeland from Columbus to COVID, covering major topics, trends, and events in between, and thoroughly engaging the reader throughout. The text is sophisticated but accessible, expansive but detailed—it is first-rate scholarship while simultaneously emotionally rewarding. I both… show more.