This book provides a first-hand account of the author’s encounters as a social geographer, based on his field research and travels in Mexico and the Caribbean. The interlocutors of different classes and races introduce the reader to a variety of urban and rural communities, many of them involved in development projects. Two leitmotifs of the 1960s and 1970s recur throughout the volume: decolonization, state formation, and the quest for democracy in the post-colonial societies of Mexico and the Caribbean; and the conditions which were likely to constrain or challenge these developments, quintessentially associated with the 1959 Cuban revolution, the cold war and student radicalism.
This book critically explores the impact of national security, violence and state power on citizenship rights and experiences in Latin America and the Caribbean. Drawing on cross-country analyses and fieldwork conducted in two “garrisons,” a middle-class community and among policy elites in Jamaica—where high levels of violence, in(security) and transnational organized crime are transforming state power —the author argues that dominant responses to security have wider implications for citizenship. The security practices of the state often result in criminalization, police abuse, violation of the rights of the urban poor and increased securitization of garrison spaces. As the tension between national security and citizenship increases, there is a centrality of the local as a site where citizenship is (re)defined, mediated, interpreted, performed and given meaning. While there is a dominant security discourse which focuses on state security, individuals at the local level articulate their own narratives which reflect lived-experiences and the particularities of socio-political milieu.
This book argues that during the Cuban Revolution (1952–1958), Fidel Castro, his allies, and members of the Movimiento 26 de Julio tapped into a larger network of transnational revolutionaries who sought to overthrow the region’s dictatorships. With his research in multiple archives including those in Cuba, Prados offers a new, transnational perspective on conflicts over dictatorship and democracy, which shaped the Caribbean in the decades that followed World War II. The book traces the roots of the ‘Caribbean Legion’, a transnational network of anti-dictatorial revolutionaries, before detailing how Castro and many of his allies in exile exploited this web during the struggle against Fulgencio Batista. Contacts in this network provided the Cuban revolutionaries with crucial military, financial, and diplomatic support from the democratic governments of José Figueres in Costa Rica, and Rómulo Betancourt in Venezuela, entangling the Cuban revolutionaries in a larger regional struggle between democratic regimes and military dictatorships. This transnational involvement shaped the revolutionary regime of 1959 and had far-reaching repercussions for the larger geopolitical dynamics in the region, and for the Cold War as a whole.
This memorandum posits and critically analyzes several apologies, motivations, and principles contributing to Mexico's increasingly active foreign policy role in Central America. It sets out a series of explanations including those typified as socio-cultural, historical, and ideological, economic, political, and strategic/security. In each case, the author proposes the argument and then exposes it to analysis, featuring its strengths and weaknesses. The several categories define distinct and distinguishable parts of the larger foreign policy matrix and their proposition and elucidation contributes to an enriched understanding of the formulation and articulation of Mexican policy in Central America. In this effort, the author is not concerned essentially with the substance of Mexico's Central American policy, but rather with the motivations and principles informing the policy (or policies) and the apologies devised to explain Mexico's activities in the region. (Author).
From Chile-Glazed Pork Chops to Dos Leches Flan, Lourdes Castro offers authentic, no-fuss Mexican meals with clean, vibrant flavors that are the essence of great Mexican food. In Simply Mexican, Castro presents authentic recipes that don’t require a fortnight to prepare or extended shopping forays to find rare ingredients. Castro honed her knowledge of traditional south-of-the-border dishes by teaching the fundamentals to adults and children at her Miami cooking school, and now she’s introducing real Mexican fare that works for busy cooks every night of the week. Simply Mexican features easy-to-prepare, fun-to-eat favorites with big flavors, such as Chicken Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce and Crab Tostadas. Once you have mastered the basics, Castro will guide you through more advanced Mexican mainstays such as adobo and mole, and show you how to make the most effortless savory and sweet tamales around. With cooking notes that highlight useful equipment, new ingredients, shortcut techniques, and instructions for advance preparation, Simply Mexican demystifies authentic Mexican meals so you can make them at home in a snap. “With this book Lourdes Castro has added a spark of creativity and simplicity to Mexican food that up until now had not yet been realized. It gives me a huge sense of pride and honor to know that this book exists, as it will help a large audience re-create these gems in a simple and straightforward way.” —Aarón Sánchez, chef/owner of Paladar and chef/partner of Centrico, author of La Comida del Barrio, and former cohost of Food Network’s Melting Pot “Here, at last, are real Mexican recipes that are authentic, creative, and fun to prepare. Lourdes Castro creates an atmosphere that makes learning about enchiladas, tacos, and salsas exciting and interesting, and her precise methodology with Mexican cookery is refreshing and very entertaining. Highly recommended.” —Jonathan Waxman, chef/owner of Barbuto and West County Grill and author of A Great American Cook
Two leading researchers make the controversial argument that the human species is still measurably evolving in important ways--in fact, faster than ever before.
In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continued--through the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Raúl Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country's future. Meanwhile, politics in Washington--Barack Obama's opening to the island, Donald Trump's reversal of that policy, and the election of Joe Biden--have made the relationship between the two nations a subject of debate once more. Now, award-winning historian Ada Ferrer delivers an ambitious chronicle written for an era that demands a new reckoning with the island's past. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba: An American History reveals the evolution of the modern nation, with its dramatic record of conquest and colonization, of slavery and freedom, of independence and revolutions made and unmade. Along the way, Ferrer explores the influence of the United States on Cuba and the many ways the island has been a recurring presence in US affairs. This is a story that will give Americans unexpected insights into the history of their own nation and, in so doing, help them imagine a new relationship with Cuba. Filled with rousing stories and characters, and drawing on more than thirty years of research in Cuba, Spain, and the United States--as well as the author's own extensive travel to the island over the same period--this is a stunning and monumental account like no other. --
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE IN HISTORY “Full of…lively insights and lucid prose” (The Wall Street Journal) an epic, sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United States—from before the arrival of Columbus to the present day—written by one of the world’s leading historians of Cuba. In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continued—through the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Raúl Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country’s future. Meanwhile, politics in Washington—Barack Obama’s opening to the island, Donald Trump’s reversal of that policy, and the election of Joe Biden—have made the relationship between the two nations a subject of debate once more. Now, award-winning historian Ada Ferrer delivers an “important” (The Guardian) and moving chronicle that demands a new reckoning with both the island’s past and its relationship with the United States. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba: An American History provides us with a front-row seat as we witness the evolution of the modern nation, with its dramatic record of conquest and colonization, of slavery and freedom, of independence and revolutions made and unmade. Along the way, Ferrer explores the sometimes surprising, often troubled intimacy between the two countries, documenting not only the influence of the United States on Cuba but also the many ways the island has been a recurring presence in US affairs. This is a story that will give Americans unexpected insights into the history of their own nation and, in so doing, help them imagine a new relationship with Cuba; “readers will close [this] fascinating book with a sense of hope” (The Economist). Filled with rousing stories and characters, and drawing on more than thirty years of research in Cuba, Spain, and the United States—as well as the author’s own extensive travel to the island over the same period—this is a stunning and monumental account like no other.
