Cuba in the American Imagination

“Brilliant. . . . Perez’s study — the latest in a series of perceptive books on US-Cuba relations by this prolific historian — illustrate[s] how an avid US self-interest was transformed into selfless moral enactment.” — The Nation

“Perez draws on politicians' speeches, newspaper editorials and comic strips published over the century and a half before the revolution to show that Cubans were consistently represented not as agents of their own destiny but as innocent victims.” — London Review of Books

“Argues that Cuba was a laboratory of American imperialism. . . . Skillfully analyses how the metaphor of neighbour and neighbourhood was employed to justify U.S. intervention in Cuba in the late 1890s. . . . Includes a remarkable number of pictorial descriptions of Cuba from a wide range of American newspapers and magazines.” — Times Literary Supplement

“An indispensable study of U.S. policy towards Cuba. . . . A necessary preface for all other analyses of the subject.” — Diplomatic History Review

“A quietly ferocious critique of US foreign policy as seen through the lens of Cuban-US relations.” — Virginia Quarterly Review

“[An] excellent and highly recommended study. . . . One of the most important contributions to the debate about US-Cuban relations. . . . Should be required reading for policymakers, Latin Americanists, and Cuban exiles everywhere.” — Latin American Review of Books

“In a thought-provoking conclusion, Pérez describes how arrogant and infantilizing metaphors from the 19th century continue to shape American policy toward Cuba.” — The Chronicle of Higher Education

“The writing is elegant and free of jargon. . . . Anyone interested in self-justifying narratives of empire and especially the place of metaphor in shaping those narratives, should read this seminal contribution to inter-American cultural history. ” — The Americas

“Brilliant. . . . Illustrate[s] how an avid US self-interest was transformed into selfless moral enactment.” — The Nation

“This is exactly the kind of book policymakers and the chattering classes ought to be reading — something beyond the ignorant regurgitations of past thinking.” — Our Man in Boston