Ada Ferrer is Julius Silver Professor of History and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University, where she has taught since 1995. She is the author of Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868–1898, winner of the Berkshire Book Prize for the best first book by a woman in any field of history, and Freedom’s Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution, which won the Frederick Douglass Book Prize from the Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale University as well as multiple prizes from the American Historical Association. Born in Cuba and raised in the United States, she has been traveling to and conducting research on the island since 1990.
“The heroes of Ada Ferrer’s narrative are the island’s nationalists
and reformers. . . . [She] reveals a relationship that is deeper
and more troubled than it may appear. . . . Yet readers will
close Ms. Ferrer’s fascinating book with a sense of hope. . . .
moving.” —The Economist
“Cuba focuses on the equivocal relationship of the two countries,
and presents it convincingly as symbiotic. . . . exemplary . . .
[full of] lively insights and lucid prose. . . . By being equally
severe with Cuban leaders and US leaders, Ms. Ferrer achieves an
honorable objective: pleasing nobody by being just.” —Wall
Street Journal
“Important. . . . rather than putting geopolitics or 'great
men' at the heart of the book, Ferrer’s focus is on the Cuban
people, the descendants of whom are calling for libertad." —The
Guardian
"Ferrer’s narrative history of Cuba’s past 500 years is epic,
authoritative, and deeply insightful. . . . [an] essential book. .
. . Cuba is broad and expansive and inclusive, telling a
hemisphere-wide story of colonialism, enslavement, and entangled
empires, nations, and peoples—the legacies of which are still with
us." —Geraldo Cadava, Public Books
“This monumental new book represents another formidable piece of
original scholarship. It is written, moreover, in an admirably
paced narrative style, which, one suspects, will earn it pride of
place among the published histories of Cuba.” —Jon Lee
Anderson, Foreign Affairs
"An encompassing look back at Cuba, from before the arrival of
Columbus to the present day. . . . a moving chronicle of the
relationship between the United States and Cuba and what that’s
meant for both sides." —Forbes
A fluid, consistently informative history of the long,
inextricable link between Cuba and the US, well rendered by a
veteran Cuban American historian. . . . Ferrer is an endlessly
knowledgeable guide. . . . She is especially good in delineating
how a distinct Cuban identity was forged over the centuries. A
wonderfully nuanced history of the island nation and its often
troubled dealings with its gigantic and voracious
neighbor." —Kirkus (starred review)
“Ada Ferrer’s astonishing Cuba succeeds brilliantly with an
original approach, written in two voices, folded together
seamlessly—one personal, from the depths of family transplantation,
and the other a historian’s lyrical narrative. She captures the
epic sweep of the island’s story of slavery, massive sugar
production, colonialism, and revolution. But she also shows how
Cuba and the United States have so long been joined at the hip in
shared culture, political crises, and tragedy for the famous and
the ordinary. Ferrer’s own ‘heavy inheritance’ is North America’s
as well. Above all, Ferrer has achieved a page-turning masterpiece
of her craft; rarely is good history this kind of literary
performance.” —David W. Blight, Yale University, author of the
Pulitzer Prize-winning Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
“A riveting, nuanced, and insightful narrative told through a
multitude of personalities—from the well-known to those whose names
have been lost to history. Here is the saga of Cuba presented in
all the complexity it deserves: an American story that is
inseparable from that of the United States. This clear-eyed
chronicle will forever change your perspective on the historic
relationship between the two countries and upend much of the
history you thought you knew. Ada Ferrer is a gift, a scholar with
the subtle prose of a novelist and the heart to chronicle a history
that is both personal and epic. Cuba is an absolutely essential
read.” —Ana Menéndez, Florida International University and author
of In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd
“Revolutions breed history wars. The role of such forces
as—colonialism and capitalism, nationalism and imperialism,
slavery, race, and socialism, for example—in the shaping of the
Cuban past has long been contested terrain. Traversing it demands
sober judgement and a steady hand. Fortunately for her readers, Ada
Ferrer possesses both in abundance. Hers is a balanced, revelatory,
and thoroughly enjoyable exploration of the complex history of this
endlessly fascinating country and its relationship with its
powerful neighbor. This elegantly written book is as much the
history of a country that, for far too many Americans, remains
exotic and enigmatic, as it is a surprisingly revealing history of
the United States itself, viewed through a lens ninety miles away.”
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University
“Ada Ferrer’s Cuba is a remarkable work of history. Covering more
than five centuries and much of the Atlantic world, Cuba is also
deeply thoughtful and highly personal in a way that truly enriches
it. Imaginatively conceived and beautifully written, Cuba tells
complex human stories in riveting ways and challenges our
understanding of an island whose history has shaped—and will
continue to shape—the Americas. Cuba is An American History in the
fullest sense.” —Steven Hahn, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A
Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South
from Slavery to the Great Migration
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