Cuba and the United States: Ties of Singular Intimacy

Bibliographical Essay

Bibliographical Essay One result of two centuries of the Cuba-U.S. connection has been the accumulation of an extraordinarily rich body of literature on the relations between Cubans and North Americans. This bibliographicalessay does not include general histories of Cuba but concentrates instead on works that explicitly address issues derived from the Cuban-North American connection. Nor does it include general studies that treat Cuba in a larger context of U.S. relations with LatinAmericanand/or the Caribbean. Readersinterested in the larger regional and policy context should consult David F.Trask, Michael C. Meyer, and Roger R. Trask,eds., A Bibliography of United States-Latin American Relations since 1810(Lincoln, 1968). This volume was subsequently augmented by the Supplement to a Bibliography of United States-Latin American Relations since 1810, compiled by MichaelC. Meyer (Lincoln,1979). Also useful in this regard is the succinct historiographical summary provided in Carmen Almodovar Munoz, "^Como analizan los historiadores cubanos en la 'Republica' las relaciones surgidas en el 98entreCuba y EUA?" Debates Americanos 4 (July-December 1997): 157-65. II Several noteworthy attempts have been made to provide a comprehensive historical overview of Cuban-U.S. relations. At the time of its appearance, Herminio Portell Vila, Historia de Cuba en sus relaciones con los Estados Unidos y Espana, 4 vols. (Havana, 1938-41), was unrivaled. Based on prodigious research in Cuba and the United States, the work stood as a model study spanning the period between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although it has been surpassed inmany ways, itnevertheless remains a standard study and necessary reference work. Also useful is Philip S. Foner, A History of Cuba and Its Relations with the United States,2vols. (NewYork, 1962-65), which spans the years between 1492and the end of the nineteenth century. Emphasis is given to internal Cuban developments and the ways U.S.policy affected the course of events on the island. MichaelJ. Mazarr,Semper Fidel: America and Cuba, 1776-1988 (Bal311 312 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY timore, 1988), is a survey of political relations between the countries. A useful study of U.S. policy toward Cuba, concentrating on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, is Lester D. Langley, The Cuban Policy of the United States (New York, 1968). Jane Franklin, The Cuban Revolution and the United States: A Chronological History (Melbourne, 1992),offers a useful chronology of key points in the history of Cuba-U.S. relations up through 1990. Miguel A. D'Estefano Pisanti, Dos siglos de diferendo entre Cuba y Estados Unidos (Havana, 2000), provides a general survey ofCuba-U.S.relations from the colonial period through the 19905. Half the book is dedicated to the forty years of Cuba-U.S. relations since the triumph of the Cuban revolution in 1959. Contacts between the countries in the eighteenth century have received increasing attention in recent years. Eduardo J. Tejera, Laayuda cubana a la lucha por la independencia norteamericanafThe Cuban Contribution to the American Independence (Miami, 1972), is slightly panegyric but provides useful data about the role of Cubans in 1776. By far one of the most comprehensive accounts of trade and commerce during these years is found in Maria Encarnacion Rodriguez Vicente, "El comercio cubano y la guerra de emancipation norteamericana," Anuario de Estudios Americanos (Seville) 11 (1954): 66-106. Other useful surveys of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century trade and commerce between Cuba and the United States include Rene Alvarez Rios, "Cuba: Desarrollo interno y relaciones con los Estados Unidos de Norteamerica,"Politica Internacional 2(1964): 59-135;and Roland T.Ely,"The Old Cuba Trade:Highlights and Case Studiesof Cuban-American Interdependence during the Nineteenth Century," Business History Review 38(Winter 1964):456-78.The literaturedealing with the nineteenth century offers the reader a vast selection from many different vantage points. One of the more useful surveys of nineteenth century, Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring, Cuba y los Estados Unidos, 1805-1898 (Havana, 1949), provides a critique of U.S. policy and defense of Cuban efforts at self-determination with emphasis on politics and diplomacy.Thecritical middle decades ofthe nineteenth century, the years ofpeak annexationist conspiracies and filibustering activities, are well treated in the literature.Although somewhat dated and in many ways surpassed by Cuban scholarship, Basil Rauch,American Interests in Cuba,1848i #55 (New York, 1948), remains one of the most detailed accounts in English for these years. Emeterio S.Santovenia, Elpresidente Polk y Cuba (Havana, 1936),is a useful study of U.S. policy during midcentury,with specific attention...