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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Cuba before 1959 | |
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| What were the main features of Cuban life during Spanish colonial rule? | |
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| How did Cuba's independence movement gain momentum, and what was its relationship to abolition? | |
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| Who was Jose Marti? | |
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| How did Cuba's final war for independence begin? | |
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| Why did the United States intervene and how did the Cuban War of Independence come to be known as the Spanish-American War? | |
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| What kind of independence did Cuba gain and what was the Platt Amendment? | |
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| What were the early years of Cuban independence like and how did the Platt Amendment impact Cuba's political culture? | |
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| Why does the United States have a naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba? | |
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| What was the political climate out of which Fulgencio Batista first emerged? | |
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| How did Cuban politics and U.S.-Cuban relations evolve between 1934 and 1952? | |
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| What were the origins of the Cuban Revolution? How did it succeed? | |
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| What role did women play in the Cuban insurrection? | |
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| How did race relations figure into Cuba's political development during the prerevolutionary period? | |
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| Beyond the realms of politics and economics, how closely intertwined had Cuban and American culture become by the 1950s? | |
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| The Cuban Revolution and the Cold War, 1959-91 | |
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| Domestic | |
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| Why did the Batista regime collapse? | |
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| What was so special about Fidel Castro? | |
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| What did the Communist Party have to do with it all and were the Soviets involved? | |
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| After Fidel took power, what happened to the other revolutionary groups? | |
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| What did Che Guevara do after 1959? | |
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| What did the first revolutionary cabinet look like? | |
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| Was Castro really a Communist? | |
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| So, did communism mean no democracy? | |
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| How did the revolution organize Cuban society? | |
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| Why did Cubans start leaving for exile? | |
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| What kind of backlash was there to the revolution's radicalization? | |
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| What kind of benefits did the revolution deliver and to whom? | |
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| How did race factor into the equation? | |
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| In a notoriously patriarchal society, how did women fare under the revolution? | |
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| What kind of space did the regime allow for intellectuals and artists? | |
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| How did the regime deal with its adversaries in the exile community? | |
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| How did the revolution handle religion? | |
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| Why did the revolution make such a big deal out of sports? | |
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| What about Cuba's human rights record during this period? | |
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| Why did King Sugar continue to dominate Cuba's economy after the revolution? | |
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| What were the main economic features of Cuba's integration with the Soviet bloc? | |
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| What was "rectification"? How did Fidel and Raul Castro view the prospect of market reforms in the 1980s? | |
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| Who was General Arnaldo Ochoa and why was he executed? | |
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| U.S.-Cuba | |
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| Was there ever a chance that the United States would react well to the Cuban revolutionaries? | |
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| How much weight did U.S. economic interests have in driving the two countries apart? | |
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| What really happened when Castro visited Washington in 1959? | |
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| Why did the Bay of Pigs invasion fail? | |
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| After the invasion fiasco, did the United States continue covert operations against Cuba and how did the United States involve Cuban exiles? | |
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| What was the Cuban Missile Crisis? | |
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| How did U.S. attempts to overthrow Castro play inside of Cuba? | |
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| What was the scope of U.S. economic sanctions? | |
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| How successful was the United States in isolating Cuba in the 1960s and into the 1970s? | |
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| What's the story behind the Kissinger/Ford secret diplomacy with Cuba in 1974? | |
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| How did Jimmy Carter's administration approach Cuba? | |
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| What was the Mariel boatlift? | |
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| Why did Reagan toughen up U.S. policy toward Cuba? | |
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| What did Reagan do to crack down on Cuba? | |
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| Who was Jorge Mas Canosa? | |
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| How did the Cuban American National Foundation emerge? | |
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| What is Radio Marti? | |
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| Cuba in the World | |
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| Why did Fidel, Che, and the other revolutionaries think they would succeed in spreading revolution in the third world? | |
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| What were the basic objectives of the Cuban Revolution's foreign policy? | |
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| Where was Cuba's foreign policy focused during the early years of the revolution and how did Che Guevara fit into the mix? | |
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| How did Latin American governments react to Cuba's armed internationalism? | |
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| How did Cuba's presence in southern Africa evolve? | |
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| What was Cuba's role in the Horn of Africa and the Ethiopia/Somalia conflict? | |
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| How did Cuba's foreign policy in the Middle East evolve? | |
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| How did world events shape Cuba's relationship with the Soviet Union? | |
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| What were the key features of Cuba's involvement in Central America and the Caribbean in the 1980s? | |
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| The Cuban Revolution after the Cold War, 1991-2006 | |
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| Domestic | |
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| How did the collapse of the Berlin Wall and dissolution of the Soviet bloc affect Cuba? | |
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| How did Cuba adapt at home to the loss of Soviet subsidies and global realignment brought by the Cold War's end? | |
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| Why didn't the regime collapse? | |
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| What were the regime's economic reforms, and why were they so limited? | |
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| What kind of foreign investment began in Cuba, what consequences did this investment bring to the island, and how did authorities respond? | |
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| Did Cuba attempt to emulate any other economic models during this period? | |
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| How did artists manage to pull off such a cultural boom in the 1990s? | |
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| What caused the 1994 balsero refugee crisis? | |
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| How did the Cuban health care system fare in this period? | |
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| How did Cuba cope with HIV/AIDS? | |
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| How did human rights fare more generally during this period? | |
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| What was the Varela Project and what is its significance? | |
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| What kind of space did the regime permit for intellectuals, especially those involved in debates over economic reform? | |
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| How did space for organized religion evolve during this period? | |
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| Who was Elian Gonzalez and what was his significance to Cuba and U.S.-Cuban relations? | |
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| How did the Elian Gonzalez affair influence Cuba's domestic politics? | |
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| Does Cuban art and music provide an arena and space for critical expression? | |
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| U.S.-Cuba | |
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| How did the United States react to the end of the Soviet era in Cuba? | |
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| What was the Cuban Democracy Act, who was behind it, and what did the law intend to accomplish? | |
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| How did the United States and Cuba resolve the 1994 refugee crisis? | |
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| How did Cuban American activists and members of Congress react to these agreements? | |
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| Was a broader U.S. opening toward Cuba in the cards? | |
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| What was Brothers to the Rescue, and why did Cuba shoot down two of its planes? | |
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| How did the United States respond? | |
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| How did Cuba respond to Helms-Burton? | |
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| After the dust settled from the shoot-down and Helms-Burton, how did Cuba policy take shape during Bill Clinton's second term? | |
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| How did the death of Jorge Mas Canosa affect the Cuban American community? | |
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| How did the Elian Gonzalez episode affect the end of the Clinton presidency, the 2000 presidential election, and the Cuban American community? | |
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| How did the September 11, 2001, attacks affect U.S.-Cuban relations? | |
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| Why is Cuba still on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism? | |
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| Who are the "Cuban Five?" | |
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| Was Castro a target of assassination attempts during this period, and what efforts were made to prosecute their authors? | |
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| What were the main features of U.S. policy toward Cuba under George W. Bush and how did Cuba respond? | |
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| Cuba in the World | |
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| How did Cuba adapt its foreign policy to the end of the Cold War? | |
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| How did relations with Europe and Canada help Cuba survive after the Soviet collapse? | |
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| How did Cuba use its long-cultivated clout at the United Nations? | |
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| How did Cuba relate to Latin America in a newly democratic environment? | |
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| What did Cuba have to do with the election of Left/Populist governments in the region, especially in the Andes? | |
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| What is the scope of Cuba's relationship with Venezuela and Hugo Chavez? | |
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| What were the main features of Cuba's integration into the world economy after the Cold War? | |
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| How did Cuba react to the war in Iraq? | |
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| After Fidel, under Raul | |
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| Domestic | |
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| How did the Cuban government deal with Fidel Castro's illness in 2006? | |
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| What happened in the immediate aftermath of the announcement of Fidel's illness? | |
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| Who is Raul Castro and why was he chosen to succeed Fidel? | |
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| How did Cuba's provisional leadership respond as the reality of Fidel's absence took hold? | |
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| How was Raul Castro elected president of Cuba? | |
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| Since becoming president, what has Raul done and how have Cubans reacted? | |
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| How has public discourse and debate evolved under the presidency of Raul Castro? | |
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| Will there be any political reform? | |
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| Can Cuba's successor government open up economically without promoting unmanageable political strife? | |
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| What is Fidel's role since he stepped down from the presidency? | |
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| U.S.-Cuba | |
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| How did the United States react to the news of Fidel turning over provisional power? | |
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| Has Raul Castro taken a different approach to the United States than his brother Fidel? | |
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| Once a stable succession was evident, how did the U.S. government adjust its view of Cuba? | |
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| How has the Cuban American community reacted to Fidel's illness and Raul's assumption of the presidency? | |
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| How did Cuba play in the 2008 presidential primaries and general election? | |
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| What might be expected from the Obama White House in its policy toward Cuba? | |
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| Cuba in the World | |
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| Did the succession arouse any changes in Cuba's foreign relations? | |
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| What are the principal features of Cuba's ties with Latin America today? | |
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| Has Cuba expanded its ties with Russia, China, and Iran? | |
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| What is the status of Cuba's deep-water oil exploration and what foreign governments and companies are involved? | |
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| Has the European Union moved closer to Cuba since Fidel stepped aside? | |
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| How extensive is Cuba's cultural projection-music, art, film, literature-on the global stage? | |
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| Suggested Reading | |
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| Index | |