;Full oflively insights and lucid prose' (The Wall Street Journal) an epic, sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United Statesfrom before the arrival of Columbus to the present daywritten 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 continuedthrough 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 Ral Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country's future. Meanwhile, politics in WashingtonBarack Obama's opening to the island, Donald Trump's reversal of that policy, and the election of Joe Bidenhave 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
