ABOUT THIS BOOK

What does the Cuban Revolution look like “from within?" This volume proposes that scholars and observers of Cuba have too long looked elsewhere—from the United States to the Soviet Union—to write the island's post-1959 history. Drawing on previously unexamined archives, the contributors explore the dynamics of sociopolitical inclusion and exclusion during the Revolution's first two decades. They foreground the experiences of Cubans of all walks of life, from ordinary citizens and bureaucrats to artists and political leaders, in their interactions with and contributions to the emerging revolutionary state. In essays on agrarian reform, the environment, dance, fashion, and more, contributors enrich our understanding of the period beginning with the utopic mobilizations of the early 1960s and ending with the 1980 Mariel boatlift. In so doing, they offer new perspectives on the Revolution that are fundamentally driven by developments on the island. Bringing together new historical research with comparative and methodological reflections on the challenges of writing about the Revolution, The Revolution from Within highlights the political stakes attached to Cuban history after 1959.

Contributors. Michael J. Bustamante, María A. Cabrera Arús, María del Pilar Díaz Castañón, Ada Ferrer, Alejandro de la Fuente, Reinaldo Funes Monzote, Lillian Guerra, Jennifer L. Lambe, Jorge Macle Cruz, Christabelle Peters, Rafael Rojas, Elizabeth Schwall, Abel Sierra Madero

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Michael J. Bustamante is Assistant Professor of History at Florida International University.

Jennifer L. Lambe is Assistant Professor of History at Brown University and author of Madhouse: Psychiatry and Politics in Cuban History.

REVIEWS

"The Revolution Within is a groundbreaking collection of essays that is ideal for undergraduates, graduate students, and all scholars of Cuba and Latin American revolutions who are looking for a new and in-depth take on 1959 and its legacies. Its historiographic intervention into using known and little-known sources, decentering the United States, and highlighting continuities over ruptures makes it a must-read for studying Cuba in the twenty-first century."

-- Devyn Spence Benson H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews

"Some of the best historical scholarship on the Cuban Revolution to date.… This book may not provide any startling or new revelations or dramatically overturn what we already know. But its essays contain important methodological themes, creative uses of sources, and valuable insights. In the process, we arrive at a far richer and more complex account of the first two decades of the Cuban Revolution."

-- Michelle Chase The Americas

"This volume is particularly suitable for students and scholars who seek to understand the causes and effects of the Cuban Revolution, not only within the island but around the world. The essayists eloquently and persuasively develop their theses in a logical, objective way to present a multiplicity of historical perspectives so that readers can interpret the revolution in a panoramic manner."

-- William O. Deaver Jr. Journal of Global South Studies

“The opening chapter by the editors gives us one of the most comprehensive, astute, and objective surveys of the evolving, variable, and always argumentative literature on post-1959 Cuba.... Several contributions stand out for their scope, insight, or novelty.... [Revolution from Within] adds much to our understanding of history in and about Cuba.”

-- Antoni Kapcia Hispanic American Historical Review

“This book is a welcome and meaningful addition to contemporary Cuban studies.... The subjects covered are original and approached in methodologically interesting and innovative ways, and the diversity and nuance of historical thought in this book allow the reader to find their own path into Cuban history and Revolution(s).”

-- Isabel Story Journal of Latin American Studies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ix
Part I. Stakes of the Field
1. Cuba's Revolution from Within: The Politics of Historical Paradigms / Jennifer L. Lambe and Michael J. Bustamante 3
2. The New Text of the Revolution / Rafael Rojas 33
3. Writing the Revolution's History out of Closed Archives? Cuban Archival Law and Access to Information / Jorge Macle Cruz 47
Part II. Case Studies: The Revolution from Within
4. Searching for the Messiah: Staging Revolution in the Sierra Maestra, 1956-1959 / Lillian Guerra 67
5. "We Demand, We Demand . . .": Cuba, 1959: The Paradoxes of Year 1 / María del Pilar Díaz Castañón 95
6. Geotransformación: Geography and Revolution in Cuba from the 1950s to the 1960s / Reinaldo Funes Monzote 117
7. Between Espíritu and Conciencia: Cabaret and Ballet Developments in 1960s Cuba / Elizabeth Schwall 146
8. When the "New Man" Met the "Old Man": Guevara, Nyerere, and the Roots of Latin-Africanism / Christabelle Peters 170
9. The Material Promise of Socialist Modernity: Fashion and Domestic Space in the 1970s / María A. Cabrera Arús 189
10. Anniversary Overload? Memory Fatigue at Cuba's Socialist Apex / Michael J. Bustamante 218
11. "Here, Everyone's Got Huevos, Mister!": Nationalism, Sexuality, and Collective Violence during the Mariel Exodus / Abel Sierra Madero 244
Part III. Concluding Reflections
12. Cuba 1959 / Haiti 1804: On History and Caribbean Revolution / Ada Ferrer 277
13. La Ventolera: Ruptures, Persistence, and the Historiography of the Cuban Revolution / Alejandro de la Fuente 290
14. Whither the Empire? / Jennifer L. Lambe 306
Contributors 319
Index 321

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