Sugar, cigars, and revolution: The making of Cuban New York

L Pérez - Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution, 2018 - degruyter.com
Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution, 2018degruyter.com
More than one hundred years before the Cuban Revolution of 1959 sparked an exodus that
created today's prominent Cuban American presence, Cubans were settling in New York
City in what became largest community of Latin Americans in the nineteenth-century
Northeast. This book brings this community to vivid life, tracing its formation and how it was
shaped by both the sugar trade and the long struggle for independence from Spain. New
York City's refineries bought vast quantities of raw sugar from Cuba, ultimately creating an …
More than one hundred years before the Cuban Revolution of 1959 sparked an exodus that created today’s prominent Cuban American presence, Cubans were settling in New York City in what became largest community of Latin Americans in the nineteenth-century Northeast. This book brings this community to vivid life, tracing its formation and how it was shaped by both the sugar trade and the long struggle for independence from Spain. New York City’s refineries bought vast quantities of raw sugar from Cuba, ultimately creating an important center of commerce for Cuban émigrés as the island tumbled into the tumultuous decades that would close out the century and define Cuban nationhood and identity.
New York became the primary destination for Cuban émigrés in search of an education, opportunity, wealth, to start a new life or forget an old one, to evade royal authority, plot a revolution, experience freedom, or to buy and sell goods. While many of their stories ended tragically, others were steeped in heroism and sacrifice, and still others in opportunism and mendacity. Lisandro Pérez beautifully weaves together all these stories, showing the rise of a vibrant and influential community. Historically rich and engrossing, Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution immerses the reader in the riveting drama of Cuban New York.
De Gruyter