A Social History of Cuba’s Protestants: God and the Nation presents a religious and social history of Cuba, focusing on the Presbyterian and other Protestant churches, to show the continuity of ties between US and Cuban churches before and after the revolution in 1959. By examining the history of Cuba’s Protestants as agents of social change within Cuba and as partners with US denominations, James A. Baer offers a unique assessment of Cuba’s development as a nation and its relationship with the United States. Scholars of Latin American studies, religion, history, and social movements will find this book particularly useful.

Cuba's grassroots revolution prevailed on America's doorstep in 1959, fueling intense interest within the multiracial American Left even as it provoked a backlash from the U.S. political establishment. In this groundbreaking book, historian Teishan A. Latner contends that in the era of decolonization, the Vietnam War, and Black Power, socialist Cuba claimed center stage for a generation of Americans who looked to the insurgent Third World for inspiration and political theory. As Americans studied the island's achievements in education, health care, and economic redistribution, Cubans in turn looked to U.S. leftists as collaborators in the global battle against inequality and allies in the nation's Cold War struggle with Washington. By forging ties with organizations such as the Venceremos Brigade, the Black Panther Party, and the Cuban American students of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, and by providing political asylum to activists such as Assata Shakur, Cuba became a durable global influence on the U.S. Left. Drawing from extensive archival and oral history research and declassified FBI and CIA documents, this is the first multidecade examination of the encounter between the Cuban Revolution and the U.S. Left after 1959. By analyzing Cuba's multifaceted impact on American radicalism, Latner contributes to a growing body of scholarship that has globalized the study of U.S. social justice movements.

A thorough examination of the history of the controversial island country looks at little-known aspects of its past, from its pre-Columbian origins to the fate of its native peoples, complete with up-to-date information on Cuba's place in a post-Soviet world.

Social and Solidarity Economy in Cuba examines the role of Social and Solidarity Economics (SSE) amidst national change in Cuba. Depicting both challenges and opportunities, this book makes a strong and sustained case for solidary and socially responsible practices in Cuba.

Citizen Engagement in Cuba: Neighbors and the State in Pogolotti examines citizen engagement at the local level in Cuba through projects initiated by the community since the 1990s. The nature of citizen participation in Cuba is not clearly understood by many in the United States, where the communist government is conflated with the Soviet states of Eastern Europe as a totalitarian regime in which the people of Cuba are helpless to confront, and punished when they do. The reality in Cuba is much more nuanced. This book discusses this reality through a focus on Pogolotti, reflecting on its history as the first low-cost housing community in Cuba in 1910. This community is but one example of a neighborhood where projects represent active participation by citizens. The willingness of communist authorities to work with officially sanctioned workshops and partner with civic groups indicates a level of citizen participation that has not been studied fully and provides an understanding of the relationship between citizens and the state in Cuba.

“Portrays the vitality and dynamism of indigenous actors in what is arguably one of the most foundational and central zones in the making of modern world history: the Caribbean.”—Maximilian C. Forte, author of Ruins of Absence, Presence of Caribs “Brings together historical analysis and the compelling stories of individuals and families that labored in the island economies of the Caribbean.”—Cynthia Radding, coeditor of Borderlands in World History, 1700–1914 During the colonial period, thousands of North American native peoples traveled to Cuba independently as traders, diplomats, missionary candidates, immigrants, or refugees; others were forcibly transported as captives, slaves, indentured laborers, or prisoners of war. Over the half millennium after Spanish contact, Cuba also served as the principal destination and residence of peoples as diverse as the Yucatec Mayas of Mexico; the Calusa, Timucua, Creek, and Seminole peoples of Florida; and the Apache and Puebloan cultures of the northern provinces of New Spain. Many settled in pueblos or villages in Cuba that endured and evolved into the nineteenth century as urban centers, later populated by indigenous and immigrant Amerindian descendants and even their mestizo, or mixed-blood, progeny. In this first comprehensive history of the Amerindian diaspora in Cuba, Jason Yaremko presents the dynamics of indigenous movements and migrations from several regions of North America from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. In addition to detailing the various motives influencing aboriginal migratory processes, Yaremko uses these case studies to argue that Amerindians—whether voluntary or involuntary migrants—become diasporic through common experiences of dispossession, displacement, and alienation within Cuban colonial society. Yet, far from being merely passive victims acted upon, he argues that indigenous peoples were cognizant agents still capable of exercising power and influence to act in the interests of their communities. His narrative of their multifaceted and dynamic experiences of survival, adaptation, resistance, and negotiation within Cuban colonial society adds deeply to the history of transculturation in Cuba, and to our understanding of indigenous peoples, migration, and diaspora in the wider Caribbean world.

There are few figures and leaders of recent American history of greater social and political consequence than Jesse Jackson, and few more relevant for America's current political climate. In the 1960s, Jackson served as a close aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, meeting him on the notorious march to legitimate the American democratic system in Selma. He was there on the day of King's assassination, and continued his political legacy, inspiring a generation of black and Latino politicians and activists, founding the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, and helping to make the Democratic Party more multicultural and progressive with his historic runs for the presidency in the 1980s. In I Am Somebody, David Masciotra argues that Jackson's legacy must be rehabilitated in the history of American politics. Masciotra has had personal access to Jackson for several years, conducting over 100 interviews with the man himself, as well as interviews with a wide variety of elected officials and activists who Jackson has inspired and influenced. It also takes readers inside Jackson's negotiations for the release of hostages and political prisoners in Cuba, Iraq, and several other countries. As Democratic politics sees a return to radicalism and the rise of a new generation of committed advocates of racial and economic justice, I Am Somebody: Why Jesse Jackson Matters is a critical book for understanding where America in the 21st Century has come from and where it is going. Featuring a foreword by Michael Eric Dyson.

Cuba, Africa, and Apartheid’s End: Africa's Children Return! examines the history and impressive dimensions of the Cuban Revolution’s solidarity with Africa. Cuba’s role in the southern African national liberation and anti-colonial struggle was the largest and most consequential manifestation of the island’s commitment to Africa. A key moment was the 1987–1988 battle of Cuito Cuanavale, which involved Cuba and Angola on one side, and South Africa and its allies on the other. Cuito Cuanavale contributed the end of apartheid and has assumed legendary status within the Cuban Revolution and the southern African liberation movement.

Entangled Terrains: Empire, Identity, and Memories of Guantánamo explores the challenges and conflicts of life in the transnational spaces between Cuba and the United States by examining the lived experiences of Alberto Jones, a first-generation black Cuban who worked at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay. Asa McKercher and Catherine Krull take readers on a journey through Jones’s life as he crossed the entangled political, racial, cultural, and economic boundaries, both in Cuba and living as a black Cuban in central Florida. McKercher and Krull argue that Jones’s story encapsulates the reality of recent Caribbean and Cuban experiences as they deconstruct the events of his life to reveal the broader cultural and social implications of identity, boundaries, and belonging throughout Caribbean and Cuban history.

As a result of climate change, ocean temperatures are warming and sea levels are rising. Natural disasters have been increasing in frequency and ferocity. Yet, over six decades, Cuba has developed a world-leading model for disaster preparedness and risk reduction. Disaster Preparedness and Climate Change in Cuba: Management and Adaptation discusses the island’s ongoing resilience against the impacts of climate change. Its commitment to disaster preparedness and management are lauded by international bodies, such as the United Nations and World Health Organization, and by governments from across the globe. Comprised of research from leading scholars, policy makers, and activists, this comprehensive, multidisciplinary analysis of Cuba’s model explores why Cuba’s approach to emergency disaster response is such a success and the aspects that make it so distinct, while also informing readers about the much-needed improvement of international approaches and policies. Scholars of communication, environmental studies, and Latin American studies will find this book particularly interesting.