The Fate of the Americas: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Hemispheric Cold War

by Renata Keller

Overview

Despite twenty-first-century fears of nuclear conflagrations with North Korea, Russia, and Iran, the Cuban Missile Crisis is the closest the United States has come to nuclear war. That history has largely been a bilateral narrative of the US-USSR struggle for postwar domination, with Cuba as the central staging ground—a standard account that obscures the shock waves that reverberated throughout Latin America. This first hemispheric examination of the Cuban Missile Crisis shows how leaders and ordinary citizens throughout the region experienced it, revealing that, had the missiles been activated, millions of people across Latin America would have been at grave risk.

Traversing the region from the Southern Cone to Central America, Renata Keller describes the deadly riots that shook Bolivia when news of the Cuban Missile Crisis broke, the naval quarantine that members of Argentina’s armed forces formed around Cuba, the pro-Castro demonstrations organized by Nicaraguan students, and much more. Drawing on a vast array of archival sources from around the hemisphere and world, The Fate of the Americas demonstrates that even at the brink of destruction, Latin Americans played active roles in global politics and inter-American relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469689432
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/14/2025
Series:	InterConnections: The Global Twentieth Century
Pages:	332
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Renata Keller is associate professor of history at the University of Nevada, Reno.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Despite all the many books (and movies) about the singular event we call the Cuban Missile Crisis, no one has told that history as a hemispheric one—until now. Keller’s brilliant book eschews a bilateral approach focused on the two superpowers and even a trilateral one that encompasses Cuba. This gripping and rigorously researched book will forever change the way readers understand the missile crisis and the Cold War.”—Ada Ferrer, author of Cuba: An American History

“This outstanding work completely transforms our understanding of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Keller’s gripping narrative moves expertly from tense negotiations behind closed doors in Washington and Havana to explosive street protests in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.”—Michelle Chase, author of Revolution within the Revolution: Women and Gender Politics in Cuba, 1952–1962

“Keller broadens our perspective on the Cuban Missile Crisis by examining Latin Americans before, during, and after the US discovery of missiles on that communist island. Everyone concerned about international relations should read this book.”—Alan McPherson, author of The Breach: Iran-Contra and the Assault on American Democracy

Editorial Reviews

“Despite all the many books (and movies) about the singular event we call the Cuban Missile Crisis, no one has told that history as a hemispheric one—until now. Keller’s brilliant book eschews a bilateral approach focused on the two superpowers and even a trilateral one that encompasses Cuba. This gripping and rigorously researched book will forever change the way readers understand the missile crisis and the Cold War.”—Ada Ferrer, author of Cuba: An American History

“This outstanding work completely transforms our understanding of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Keller’s gripping narrative moves expertly from tense negotiations behind closed doors in Washington and Havana to explosive street protests in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.”—Michelle Chase, author of Revolution within the Revolution: Women and Gender Politics in Cuba, 1952–1962

“Keller broadens our perspective on the Cuban Missile Crisis by examining Latin Americans before, during, and after the US discovery of missiles on that communist island. Everyone concerned about international relations should read this book.”—Alan McPherson, author of The Breach: Iran-Contra and the Assault on American Democracy

From the Publisher