The Legacy of Exile , the latest entry in the New Immigrants Series, deals with one of the most visible and political of all U.S. immigrant groups–Cubans. This is a group that was welcomed to the United States, that transformed a major U.S. metropolitan area, that exerts a powerful–and controversial–impact on U.S. foreign policy, and that has achieved, in a relatively short time, economic success in this country. The theme of the book is that the Cuban presence has been shaped by the experience of exile. In understanding the case of the Cuban immigration to the United States, students will gain insight into the dynamics of U.S. immigration policy; the differences between immigrants and exiles; interethnic relations among newcomers and established residents; and the economic development of immigrant communities. Cuban immigrants provide a surprising and compelling case study of the relatively successful adaptation of an immigrant community. The book presents the long tradition of Cuban immigration to the United States; the elements of Cuban culture which have emerged and reinforced this tradition of migration; the impact that Cubans have had on the Miami area; as well as the changes within the community as Cubans develop into a well established minority group within the United States.

The Legacy of Exile: Cubans in the United States (Part of the Allyn & Bacon New Immigrants Series)

Politics & Social Sciences

Foner, Nancy

Pérez, Lisandro

Grenier, Guillermo J.

Social Sciences

Pearson

Honorable Mention, 2019 CASA Literary Prize for Studies on Latinos in the United States, given by La Casa de las Américas The dramatic story of the origins of the Cuban community in nineteenth-century New York. More than one hundred years before the Cuban Revolution of 1959 sparked an exodus that created today’s prominent Cuban American presence, Cubans were settling in New York City in what became largest community of Latin Americans in the nineteenth-century Northeast. This book brings this community to vivid life, tracing its formation and how it was shaped by both the sugar trade and the long struggle for independence from Spain. New York City’s refineries bought vast quantities of raw sugar from Cuba, ultimately creating an important center of commerce for Cuban émigrés as the island tumbled into the tumultuous decades that would close out the century and define Cuban nationhood and identity. New York became the primary destination for Cuban émigrés in search of an education, opportunity, wealth, to start a new life or forget an old one, to evade royal authority, plot a revolution, experience freedom, or to buy and sell goods. While many of their stories ended tragically, others were steeped in heroism and sacrifice, and still others in opportunism and mendacity. Lisandro Pérez beautifully weaves together all these stories, showing the rise of a vibrant and influential community. Historically rich and engrossing, Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution immerses the reader in the riveting drama of Cuban New York. Lisandro Pérez analyzes the major forces that shaped the community, but also tells the stories of individuals and families that made up the fabric of a little-known immigrant world that represents the origins of New York City's dynamic Latino presence.

Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution: The Making of Cuban New York

History

Americas

NYU Press

Review\n"En prosa clara y precisa, Lisandro Pérez cuenta la historia de los cubanos del siglo XIX en Nueva York con rigor y una dosis exacta de empatía hacia los protagonistas. Este libro académico, sin duda un aporte incalculable a la historiografía cubana, se lee, sin embargo, como si fuera una novela." ― Uva de Aragón, El Nuevo Herald\n"In this colorful and scrupulously researched history, Pérez . . . traces the 19th-century origins of Cuban New York. [His] engrossing work showcases a little-discussed facet of New York City's rich history." ― Publishers Weekly\n"Pérez vividly describes how the tightly knit Cuban émigré community reproduced the political cleavages and social mores of its homeland." ― Foreign Affairs\n"With a wealth of new data and illustrations, Pérez provides a fascinating narrative of Cuban migration to New York… Recommended for Latin Americanists and students of New York history." -- Choice\n"In the 18th century a sugar trade sprang up between New York and Cuba, and with it a Cuban community grew in Gotham. Its evolution down to the 1898 war with Spain has heretofore been only lightly sketched. Now Lisandro Pérezs splendid study offers a full blown portrait. His research drills down to bedrock, and his absorbing narrative, which focuses on individual actors as well as sweeping historical forces, is engagingly written." -- Mike Wallace, Pulitzer prize winning historian of New York City\n"A riveting history of exile and migration. More than a century before the rise of Miami, New York City was home to a vibrant transnational Cuban community. Its members lived in the city, using it to feed their business ventures, their intellectual and artistic pursuits, and their political visions, which were wide-ranging enough to include plots to annex the island to the United States and dreams of nationalist revolution. Lisandro Pérez provides a vivid glimpse into a relatively little-known Cuban and Latino New York in the nineteenth century." -- Ada Ferrer, author of Freedom's Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution\n"Few people are aware that during the nineteenth century, Cubans constituted the major immigrant Hispanic community in New York. Lisandro Pérez, through exhaustive and well documented research, brings into focus the outstanding political, economic and cultural significance of this presence in the history of the city as well as in Cuban history." -- Oscar Zanetti, Universidad de La Habana\n"A fascinating excursion into nineteenth-century New York . . . serves as a comprehensive guide to the social, cultural, and political lives of the transnational community of wealthy Cuban plantation owners and their immigrant compatriots . . .Great spiritedness animates the prose . . . a lively and multifaceted record of Cuban communities in New York City." ― Foreword Reviews\n"A thoroughly researched study on the early history of Cubans in New York… Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution makes an important contribution to Cuban diasporic history in New York and Pérez’s attention to detail and crafting of narrative is impressive." ― New West Indian Guide\n"In Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution, Lisandro Pérez has written an immensely enjoyable book . . . SCR is a captivating account, refreshingly free of polemic and academic jargon. Pérez expertly sets up scenes, weaves together the lives of characters, and introduces and analyzes texts, knowing exactly when and how to step back to summarize the broad sweep of events and politics . . . the book is brimming with insights and is eminently assignable. It would make an excellent gift for readers outside the academy who are interested in Cuban history or forgotten stories of old New York." ― Cuban Studies\nWinner, 2020 Herbert H. Lehman Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in New York history\nHonorable Mention, 2019 CASA Literary Prize for Studies on Latinos in the United States, given by La Casa de las Américas\nThe dramatic story of the origins of the Cuban co

The unforgettable story of a family swept into history by the Cuban Revolution In The House on G Street, award-winning author Lisandro Pérez tells Cuba's story through the lens of a single family: his own. His book relays the tales of two officers who fought against the Spanish for Cuban independence; a plantation owner who smuggles himself onto a ship; families divided by political loyalties; an orphaned boy from central Cuba who would go on to amass a fortune; a fatal love triangle; violence; and the ever-growing presence of the United States. It all culminates with an unforgettable portrait of a childhood spent in a world that was giving way to another one. The House on G Street is a unique depiction of one of the most consequential events of the twentieth century, told through generations of ancestors whose lives were shaped by dramatic historical forces. Pérez disentangles the complex history by following his family's thread, imbuing political events with personal meaning. Their story begins with emigration to Cuba and follows the waning years of the colony. The end of Spanish rule gives way to pervasive American influence, and Perez's family turned to New York as they adapted to the realities of a new republic with compromised sovereignty: privileged educations in boarding schools in Long Island and the Hudson Valley; a family business that took tobacco leaves from the soil of central Cuba to the docks of the East River; and grandparents who met and fell in love one night in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. His family learned to navigate the uneasy relationship between the United States and Cuba, a relationship that was destined to end in dramatic fashion. More than sixty years later, the Cuban Revolution resists receding into the past, sparking continued discussion, debate, and reinterpretation. There is a great deal that is known about the broad historical conditions that inexorably pushed Cuba towards revolution, but much less is known about the people who lived that dramatic history. It is a story that, if not recovered and told, will be lost, for Pérez's ancestors lived in a world that no longer exists, swept away by a tide of revolutionary change. The House on G Street follows a family whose lives mirror the history of a nation. The result is a compelling blend of memoir and in-depth historical research, a remarkable new view of the path to revolution as seen from the first person.

The House on G Street: A Cuban Family Saga

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

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