13 - Cuba

Summary

Among general histories, the Enciclopedia de Cuba, 12 vols. (Madrid, 1975), edited in exile by several Cuban scholars and writers, is an uneven work which contains some valuable essays. Ramiro Guerra y Sánchez et al., Historia de la nación cubana, 10 vols. (Havana, 1952), is a compilation of essays by different authors which occasionally provides excellent information. Jorge Ibarra, Historia de Cuba (Havana, 1968) is a Marxist interpretation. Leví Marrero, Cuba: Economía y sociedad, 9 vols. (Madrid, 1976) contains the results of some excellent research but is in desperate need of organization. José Duarte Oropesa, Historiología cubana, 4 vols. (Miami, 1974) is a good contribution, rendered less valuable by the author’s reluctance to display his sources. Hortensia Pichardo, Documentos para la historia de Cuba, 4 vols. (Havana, 1976), selected with some Marxist bias, includes otherwise inaccessible documents. José Manuel Pérez Cabrera, Historiografía de Cuba (Mexico, D.F., 1952) is a valuable guide to the literature on Cuba in the nineteenth century. Fernando Portuondo, Historia de Cuba (Havana, 1957) was considered the best textbook in Cuba until 1960. Oscar Pino Santos, Historia de Cuba, aspectos fundamental (Havana, 1964) seeks to explain Cuba’s economic development or lack of it from a Marxist perspective. Emeterio Santovenia and Raúl Shelton, Cuba y su historia, 4 vols. (Miami, 1965) is a clear and reliable work by a Cuban and a North American historian. Jaime Suchlicki, Cuba, from Columbus to Castro (New York, 1974) is a good, unpretentious overview of Cuban history. In spite of a certain tendency to disregard Cuban sources, Hugh Thomas, Cuba or the Pursuit of Freedom (London, 1971) remains the most complete history of the island from 1762 to 1968.

Useful bibliographical works include Augusto Bird, Bibliografia puertorriqueña de fuentes para investigaciones sociales 1930–45 (Río Piedras, 1947) and J. Bulnes and E. González-Díaz (eds.), Bibliografía puertorriqueña de ciencias sociales (Río Piedras, 1977). The latter classifies, according to subject, books and articles written from 1931 to 1960, many of which deal with or refer to the period before 1930. See also Paquita Vivó (ed.), The Puerto Ricans: An Annotated Bibliography (New York, 1973) which comprises a very limited selection of entries, but contains useful commentaries. A. G. Quintero-Rivera (ed.), Lucha obrera: Antología de grandes documentos en la historia obrera puertorriqueña (San Juan, 1971), Eng. trans. Workers’ Struggle in Puerto Rico, a Documentary History (New York, 1976), a collection of documents on the labour movement mostly in the period 1870–1940, includes a detailed and annotated bibliography of the labour literature of the period. By the same author see Historia del analisis social en Puerto Rico, bibliografía temática (San Juan, P.R., 1990), mainly on intellectual history.