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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780199740819 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
| Publication date: | 07/17/2009 |
| Series: | What Everyone Needs To KnowRG |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction xvii
Cuba before 1959
What were the main features of Cuban life during Spanish colonial rule? 1
How did Cuba's independence movement gain momentum, and what was its relationship to abolition? 4
Who was Jose Marti? 6
How did Cuba's final war for independence begin? 8
Why did the United States intervene and how did the Cuban War of Independence come to be known as the Spanish-American War? 8
What kind of independence did Cuba gain and what was the Platt Amendment? 11
What were the early years of Cuban independence like and how did the Platt Amendment impact Cuba's political culture? 12
Why does the United States have a naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba? 15
What was the political climate out of which Fulgencio Batista first emerged? 16
How did Cuban politics and U.S.-Cuban relations evolve between 1934 and 1952? 17
What were the origins of the Cuban Revolution? How did it succeed? 20
What role did women play in the Cuban insurrection? 27
How did race relations figure into Cuba's political development during the prerevolutionary period? 29
Beyond the realms of politics and economics, how closely intertwined had Cuban and American culture become by the 1950s? 33
The Cuban Revolution and the Cold War, 1959-91
Domestic 36
Why did the Batista regime collapse? 36
What was so special about Fidel Castro? 36
What did the Communist Party have to do with it all and were the Soviets involved? 37
After Fidel took power, what happened to the other revolutionary groups? 39
What did Che Guevara do after 1959? 39
What did the first revolutionary cabinet look like? 40
Was Castro really a Communist? 41
So, did communism meanno democracy? 43
How did the revolution organize Cuban society? 45
Why did Cubans start leaving for exile? 47
What kind of backlash was there to the revolution's radicalization? 48
What kind of benefits did the revolution deliver and to whom? 50
How did race factor into the equation? 53
In a notoriously patriarchal society, how did women fare under the revolution? 55
What kind of space did the regime allow for intellectuals and artists? 56
How did the regime deal with its adversaries in the exile community? 58
How did the revolution handle religion? 62
Why did the revolution make such a big deal out of sports? 64
What about Cuba's human rights record during this period? 65
Why did King Sugar continue to dominate Cuba's economy after the revolution? 68
What were the main economic features of Cuba's integration with the Soviet bloc? 70
What was "rectification"? How did Fidel and Raul Castro view the prospect of market reforms in the 1980s? 71
Who was General Arnaldo Ochoa and why was he executed? 73
U.S.-Cuba 74
Was there ever a chance that the United States would react well to the Cuban revolutionaries? 74
How much weight did U.S. economic interests have in driving the two countries apart? 76
What really happened when Castro visited Washington in 1959? 78
Why did the Bay of Pigs invasion fail? 79
After the invasion fiasco, did the United States continue covert operations against Cuba and how did the United States involve Cuban exiles? 82
What was the Cuban Missile Crisis? 84
How did U.S. attempts to overthrow Castro play inside of Cuba? 87
What was the scope of U.S. economic sanctions? 88
How successful was the United States in isolating Cuba in the 1960s and into the 1970s? 89
What's the story behind the Kissinger/Ford secret diplomacy with Cuba in 1974? 92
How did Jimmy Carter's administration approach Cuba? 93
What was the Mariel boatlift? 96
Why did Reagan toughen up U.S. policy toward Cuba? 98
What did Reagan do to crack down on Cuba? 99
Who was Jorge Mas Canosa? 100
How did the Cuban American National Foundation emerge? 101
What is Radio Marti? 102
Cuba in the World 104
Why did Fidel, Che, and the other revolutionaries think they would succeed in spreading revolution in the third world? 104
What were the basic objectives of the Cuban Revolution's foreign policy? 105
Where was Cuba's foreign policy focused during the early years of the revolution and how did Che Guevara fit into the mix? 107
How did Latin American governments react to Cuba's armed internationalism? 112
How did Cuba's presence in southern Africa evolve? 114
What was Cuba's role in the Horn of Africa and the Ethiopia/Somalia conflict? 115
How did Cuba's foreign policy in the Middle East evolve? 117
How did world events shape Cuba's relationship with the Soviet Union? 119
What were the key features of Cuba's involvement in Central America and the Caribbean in the 1980s? 122
The Cuban Revolution after the Cold War, 1991-2006
Domestic 126
How did the collapse of the Berlin Wall and dissolution of the Soviet bloc affect Cuba? 126
How did Cuba adapt at home to the loss of Soviet subsidies and global realignment brought by the Cold War's end? 127
Why didn't the regime collapse? 129
What were the regime's economic reforms, and why were they so limited? 131
What kind of foreign investment began in Cuba, what consequences did this investment bring to the island, and how did authorities respond? 134
Did Cuba attempt to emulate any other economic models during this period? 138
How did artists manage to pull off such a cultural boom in the 1990s? 139
What caused the 1994 balsero refugee crisis? 141
How did the Cuban health care system fare in this period? 143
How did Cuba cope with HIV/AIDS? 146
How did human rights fare more generally during this period? 147
What was the Varela Project and what is its significance? 150
What kind of space did the regime permit for intellectuals, especially those involved in debates over economic reform? 152
How did space for organized religion evolve during this period? 153
Who was Elian Gonzalez and what was his significance to Cuba and U.S.-Cuban relations? 156
How did the Elian Gonzalez affair influence Cuba's domestic politics? 159
Does Cuban art and music provide an arena and space for critical expression? 160
U.S.-Cuba 161
How did the United States react to the end of the Soviet era in Cuba? 161
What was the Cuban Democracy Act, who was behind it, and what did the law intend to accomplish? 162
How did the United States and Cuba resolve the 1994 refugee crisis? 165
How did Cuban American activists and members of Congress react to these agreements? 167
Was a broader U.S. opening toward Cuba in the cards? 168
What was Brothers to the Rescue, and why did Cuba shoot down two of its planes? 169
How did the United States respond? 171
How did Cuba respond to Helms-Burton? 173
After the dust settled from the shoot-down and Helms-Burton, how did Cuba policy take shape during Bill Clinton's second term? 174
How did the death of Jorge Mas Canosa affect the Cuban American community? 177
How did the Elian Gonzalez episode affect the end of the Clinton presidency, the 2000 presidential election, and the Cuban American community? 178
How did the September 11, 2001, attacks affect U.S.-Cuban relations? 180
Why is Cuba still on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism? 183
Who are the "Cuban Five?" 184
Was Castro a target of assassination attempts during this period, and what efforts were made to prosecute their authors? 186
What were the main features of U.S. policy toward Cuba under George W. Bush and how did Cuba respond? 187
Cuba in the World 191
How did Cuba adapt its foreign policy to the end of the Cold War? 191
How did relations with Europe and Canada help Cuba survive after the Soviet collapse? 192
How did Cuba use its long-cultivated clout at the United Nations? 194
How did Cuba relate to Latin America in a newly democratic environment? 195
What did Cuba have to do with the election of Left/Populist governments in the region, especially in the Andes? 198
What is the scope of Cuba's relationship with Venezuela and Hugo Chavez? 200
What were the main features of Cuba's integration into the world economy after the Cold War? 203
How did Cuba react to the war in Iraq? 204
After Fidel, under Raul
Domestic 207
How did the Cuban government deal with Fidel Castro's illness in 2006? 207
What happened in the immediate aftermath of the announcement of Fidel's illness? 208
Who is Raul Castro and why was he chosen to succeed Fidel? 210
How did Cuba's provisional leadership respond as the reality of Fidel's absence took hold? 212
How was Raul Castro elected president of Cuba? 213
Since becoming president, what has Raul done and how have Cubans reacted? 214
How has public discourse and debate evolved under the presidency of Raul Castro? 219
Will there be any political reform? 222
Can Cuba's successor government open up economically without promoting unmanageable political strife? 223
What is Fidel's role since he stepped down from the presidency? 226
U.S.-Cuba 227
How did the United States react to the news of Fidel turning over provisional power? 227
Has Raul Castro taken a different approach to the United States than his brother Fidel? 230
Once a stable succession was evident, how did the U.S. government adjust its view of Cuba? 232
How has the Cuban American community reacted to Fidel's illness and Raul's assumption of the presidency? 235
How did Cuba play in the 2008 presidential primaries and general election? 238
What might be expected from the Obama White House in its policy toward Cuba? 241
Cuba in the World 244
Did the succession arouse any changes in Cuba's foreign relations? 244
What are the principal features of Cuba's ties with Latin America today? 246
Has Cuba expanded its ties with Russia, China, and Iran? 251
What is the status of Cuba's deep-water oil exploration and what foreign governments and companies are involved? 252
Has the European Union moved closer to Cuba since Fidel stepped aside? 253
How extensive is Cuba's cultural projection-music, art, film, literature-on the global stage? 255
Suggested Reading 257
Index 259