Cuba Libre: A Brief History of Cuba by Paul J. Dosal (review)

The Latin Americanist, Spring 2007 urban and rural interests. Carias’s election on 28 October 1932was viewed favorably by American diplomats in Honduras, who believed that Carias’s Liberal opponents were anti-American and anti-UFCO. Like Franklin D. Roosevelt,Cariasencouraged the construction of public works projects during the Great Depression. Carias oversaw ”every detail” in the administration of the government (57). He used the telegraph system to maintain daily control over the country. He was also the first Honduran leader to use the radio to communicate with Hondurans throughout the nation. Carias also made significant contributions to the development of Honduras’s infrastructure. During his regime, Honduras developed the best internal air transportation system in Central America. The nation, however, continued to be a monocultural economy based on the export of bananas. Carias realized that the Allied victory in World War I1 made dictatorships an anomaly in Latin America and planned, as early as 1945, to leave office in 1948 when his presidential term expired. After his retirement, Carias continued to exert a strong influence on the Honduran political system. Dodd’s research in official archives and public libraries in Honduras and the United States, coupled with extensive interviews of Carias’s family, friends, and foes, has provided the reader with a vivid portrayal of Carias’s life. Dodd, however, has done much more than merely generate yet another biography of an authoritarian Latin American dictator. His study helps one to understand the formation of the modern Honduran nation. As such, the book should serve as a template for future historians who contemplate writing biographies of Latin American leaders. Michael R. Hall Department of History Arvristrong Atlantic State University CUBA LIBRE: A BRIEF HrSTORY OF CUBA.B Y PAUL J. DOSAL. WHEELING, IL: HARLAN DAVIDSON, 2006, P. 152, $14.95. Understanding the history of Cuba requires an appreciation of the constancies that persist in spite of the island’s tumultuous changes: the tension between progress and frustration, Cuba’s perpetual strategic centralityintersected by the ambitions of various global powers -or, in the twentieth century, the indelible importance of the writings of Jose Marti. Dosal’s Cuba Libre presents these crucial concepts in a neatly structured and accessible way that makes it an ideal text for introducing undergraduate students to the motifs and archetypes that organize the island’s past and explain the controversies of its present. The slim volume offers an engaging, fast-reading panorama of Cuban history in English, covering more than five centuries in six chapters. Politics, economics, and war receive somewhat more emphasis than cultural production in this text, though the author does posit cubanidad, in its social Book Reviews and artistic manifestations, as an important theme. What is most lacking is a detailed description of religious hybridity in Cuban culture, though some examples of syncretism are dealt with briefly. Theauthor displays a keen giftfor storytelling, employing a brisk narrative style and vivid diction. He describes the Taino chieftain Hatuey’s attacks on Spanish colonial armies as ”hit-and-run strikes” (5),and relates with the relish of a great storyteller the moment at which a white dove alights on Fidel Castro’sshoulder after the conquering hero delivers his first public speechon the first day of 1959 (84). Also, after explaining that the politician Eduardo Chibas (1907-51),known for his erratic behavior, was called ”Crazy Eddie,” Dosal refers to him again and again by that moniker (62-7). An illustrative opening anecdote from in medias res draws the reader in to each chapter. Dosal subsequently returns to the chapter’s stated chronologicalstarting point and introduces central themes and problematics. Each introductory anecdote bristles with illustrative power, showing to greatest effect Dosal’s narrative skills. The final chapter opens with a sharp evocation of the irony of Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to Cuba in 1989: ”Gorbachev,the fifty-eight-year-oldSoviet premier dressed in Western-style suits, appeared in Havana as an unorthodox capitalist. He had every reason to modify commercialrelations with Cuba because the Soviet Union could no longer afford to subsidize it” (105). This crisp snapshot informs the reader of the tectonic shifts that are to occur in Cuba as the Soviet bloc succumbs...