The Occupation of Havana

Elena A. Schneider is assistant professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley.
For more information about Elena A. Schneider, visit the Author Page.

“Offers a compelling argument. . . . Makes clear that the siege and occupation of Havana was not one but all, the end of an era of rights and privileges for people of African descent, a new dawn for creole oligarchs dreaming of sugar and slaves, and a middle point in an eighteenth century of interimperial conflict and collaboration.”--H-Net Reviews

“The Occupation of Havana is an important work. . . . Schneider writes clearly and well, buttressing all of her arguments with copious notes. . . . Anyone with an interest in Atlantic studies, the Caribbean, slavery, or eighteenth-century naval history will enjoy the read.”--The Northern Mariner

"During the eighteenth century, Havana was the crown jewel of the Spanish Caribbean, a place of dazzling wealth and formidable power. Behind this impressive façade, however, lay a more complicated history of war, trade, and slavery that Havana shared with its British neighbors. Elena Schneider brings this entangled Anglo-Spanish history to life as no historian before her has done. The result is a landmark in the history of the British and Spanish Atlantic worlds."--Eliga Gould, University of New Hampshire

"At every level, from its treatment of geopolitics in the Atlantic world to its fine-grained social history, this is a splendid book. No previous scholar has so clearly recounted the 1762 siege of Havana in all its contexts; no reader of this volume will be able to doubt that event's significance."--Fred Anderson, Emeritus, University of Colorado Boulder

"The Occupation of Havana unravels national and imperial narratives about eighteenth-century British and Spanish struggles over the 'key to the Indies.' In their place, Elena Schneider offers a cross-cutting analysis that demonstrates how overlapping imperial connections and frictions shaped Caribbean lives well beyond war and commerce. Meticulously researched, this book is full of surprises."--David Sartorius, University of Maryland

"A gripping history of the British siege and occupation of Havana. Part military history, part social history, this book brilliantly reveals the origins, course, and lasting impacts (in Cuba, Britain, Spain, and the United States) of this monumental, yet remarkably understudied, event in Atlantic history. Beautifully written, The Occupation of Havana will last for generations."--Ada Ferrer, New York University