Today Goodreads.com published its nominations for "Book of the Year 2021". As an avid read, especially of history and biographies, I immediately went to see the books nominated in the category of "Best History & Biography" hoping to find Ada Ferrer's excellent Cuba: An American History in it. I was stunned not to see it there. More surprising, I saw Malcolm Gladwell's "The Bomber Mafia" included in the list. Gladwell is a very well respected observer of pop culture and noted pundit of social phenomena, but I am surprised his latest effort would be included in the history catalog. Granted his topic is historical (he discussed the role of technology during World War II), but his formal background isn't in history.
Ferrer, on the other hand, is a recognized and highly acclaimed historian who teaches at New York University. Check out a recent interview she gave here.
For me, Ferrer's effort sits alongside Paul Preston's magnum opus Franco: A Biography. Her narrative is excellent and instructive and she deftly avoids oversaturation of facts, names and citations. Her pace is very easy for the casual reader. I lived in Cuba for seven years and have a strong grasp of Cuban history, but I still learned a lot from Ferrer's book.
So why didn't her book make the Goodreads.com "Best Books of 2021" list? I think part of the issue is that people, in general, do not read history as much as they used to. Any author whose thesis tangentially includes history, will be considered "history". But for me, the real issue is that many Americans are not that familiar with Cuban history, informing their knowledge of that country by propaganda foisted on the public by the Cuban exile community in Miami. It is not an exaggeration to say that for many Americans, Cuban history began in 1959. Many Americans know who Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are. But very few know who Gerardo Machado, Ramon Grau San Martín, Frank País, Salvador García Agüero, Antonio Maceo and José Martí were. Ferrer addresses this when she writes, "People interested in Cuba make the mistake of thinking too much about Fidel Castro." Referring to how Castro survived his incarceration, she adds, "Fidel received his freedom, thanks to civic activists, many of whose names have bee lost to history." But where Ferrer really succeeds in her masterly work is displaying the US relationship with Cuba that extends to before the creation of the North American country. American conception of Cuba is formulated on two poles: 1) it is communist; 2) it is a victim of American imperialism. Until now, not much attention has been given to its relationship with the US, especially around slavery and sugar mill ownership (US senator James DeWolf owned a sugar mill and slaves in Cuba in the early part of the 19th century); or the progressive elements that briefly entered government in 1933.
I like the depth of Ferrer's research and her writing easily transmits a wealth of historical information to the reader. It is unfortunate that Goodreads.com deemed Cuba: An American History unworthy of inclusion in the list of best books of 2021.
The other day I stopped by the Hotel
Victoria to say hello to some old friends of mine. I was stunned to learn that
after August 10, the hotel would no longer be accommodating non-Italian
tourists. I was told that the Italian travel agency Alpitur bought the hotel
and is going to use it as a place of accommodations only for Italians.
I was disgusted by the news on a couple of
fronts. First, the temerity of this agency to do this. They buy their own real
estate and exclude everyone from it. This reminds me of pre-Revolution Cuba
when the US engaged in this type of arrogant behavior. Second, I had trouble
digesting this notion, but the reasons behind the purchase were so antithetical
to the tenets of the Revolution, i.e., discrimination. For me, this is one of the uglier aspects of capitalism and I just could
not believe that Cuba would allow a foreign entity to do this. But it has and
it has made me wonder what is next on the horizon.
With normalized
relations between Cuba and the US there will be a significant increase in
tourism (since January 2015 Cuba has witnessed a 36% increase in the number of
tourists who visit Cuba). Will US-based or other foreign entities try to
emulate with Alpitur has done? I hope not.
