Unit 0 – Orientation / Start Here
- Cuba: An American History — Ada Ferrer — Narrative survey with strong archival work; balanced framing.
- Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom — Hugh Thomas — Classic, massive reference from conquest to Castro; indispensable baseline.
- Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution — Louis A. Pérez Jr. — Widely used college survey; strong on long-run themes.
- The Cuba Reader (2nd ed.) — Aviva Chomsky et al., eds. — Primary sources across eras; use selectively for multiple perspectives.
Unit 1 – Conquest, Colony, Sugar, and Slavery (1492–1898)
- Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868–1898 — Ada Ferrer — Independence wars; race and nation formation.
- Cuba: Between Empires, 1878–1902 — Louis A. Pérez Jr. — Late colony to U.S. occupation; transition to republic.
- The Sugarmill — Manuel Moreno Fraginals — Seminal economic history of sugar (Marxist inflection; read comparatively).
- The Cuban Slave Market, 1790–1880 — Laird W. Bergad et al. — Quantitative, non-polemical study of slavery’s structure.
Unit 2 – Republic and U.S. Hinge (1898–1958)
- On Becoming Cuban — Louis A. Pérez Jr. — Identity, culture, U.S.–Cuba entanglements.
- Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba — Tom Gjelten — Business, civil society, nationalism.
- Havana Nocturne — T. J. English — Mafia, tourism, corruption; late-republic texture.
- Miami — Joan Didion — Exile politics and U.S. media/power.
Unit 3 – Revolution, Consolidation, and Rule (1959–present)
- A Short History of Revolutionary Cuba — Antoni Kapcia — Concise state-centered overview.
- A History of the Cuban Revolution — Aviva Chomsky — Readable synthesis; engage critically for balance.
- Cuba: Order and Revolution — Jorge I. Domínguez — Political order, institutions, and coercion.
- Cuba’s Economic and Social Development — Domínguez, Pérez Villanueva, Barberia, eds. — Scholarly essays; data-driven.
- Entrepreneurial Cuba — Archibald R. M. Ritter & Ted Henken — Non-state sector, reforms.
- The Cubans: Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times — Anthony DePalma — Everyday life under socialism.
Unit 4 – U.S.–Cuba Relations & Policy
- Economic Normalization with Cuba — Gary Clyde Hufbauer — Sanctions, trade, policy options.
- Back Channel to Cuba — William M. LeoGrande & Peter Kornbluh — Secret diplomacy since 1959; document-heavy.
- Open for Business: The New Cuban Economy — Richard E. Feinberg — Reforms, foreign investment; pragmatic lens.
- Human Rights Watch: Cuba Country Chapter — Civil liberties, academic freedom snapshots.
Unit 5 – Flashpoints & Crises
- The Brilliant Disaster — Jim Rasenberger — Bay of Pigs, multi-sourced.
- Bay of Pigs — Peter Wyden — Planning and failure analysis.
- The Abyss: Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962 — Max Hastings — Best single-volume on the missile crisis.
- One Minute to Midnight — Michael Dobbs — Granular, day-by-day reconstruction.
- Castro’s Secrets — Brian Latell — Intelligence community view; useful, read critically.
Unit 6 – Key Figures (comparative)
- Fidel: A Critical Portrait — Tad Szulc — Investigative biography.
- The Double Life of Fidel Castro — Juan Reinaldo Sánchez — Insider memoir/bodyguard.
- Fidel Castro: My Life — Ignacio Ramonet — Long interview; apologia to contrast.
- Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life — Jon Lee Anderson — Standard biography.
- Exposing the Real Che Guevara — Humberto Fontova — Polemical counterpoint; use as critique.
Unit 7 – Economy, Demography, and Daily Life
- Selected works by Carmelo Mesa-Lago — Leading non-Marxist analyst of Cuban economy (articles/chapters).
- Voices of Change in Cuba from the Non-State Sector — Henken, Vignoli, de Miranda — Interviews, entrepreneurs, constraints.
- The Cubans — Anthony DePalma — Cross-list with Unit 3 if preferred.
Unit 8 – Exile, Memoir, and Culture
- Before Night Falls — Reinaldo Arenas — Dissident writer’s memoir; repression, exile.
- Waiting for Snow in Havana — Carlos Eire — Operation Pedro Pan; childhood and exile.
- Finding Mañana — Mirta Ojito — Mariel boatlift memoir.
- When We Left Cuba — Chanel Cleeton — Historical fiction; exile milieu.
- Hotel Scarface — Roben Farzad — Miami cocaine era & Cuban‑American threads.
Unit 9 – Documentaries & Primary Media
- The Cuba Libre Story (Netflix) — 8‑part overview; visual companion to Units 0–5.
- PBS American Experience: “The Fidel Castro Tapes” — Archival footage; quick orientation.
- “History Will Absolve Me” — Fidel Castro (1953) — Primary source; read alongside biographies.
- Cuban Constitution (2019, English trans.) — Institutions on paper vs. practice.
Optional – The Missile Crisis (Seminar Deep Dive)
- The Kennedy Tapes — May & Zelikow, eds. — EXCOMM transcripts.
- Essence of Decision (rev. ed.) — Graham Allison & Philip Zelikow — Analytic frameworks for crisis decision-making.
Optional – Comparative Socialism & Latin America
- The Political Economy of Latin America — Corrales & Penfold — Institutions, growth, and populism.
- Dragon in the Tropics (2nd ed.) — Corrales & Penfold — Venezuela as comparative case.