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With this masterful work, Louis A. Perez Jr. transforms the way we view Cuba and its relationship with the United States. On Becoming Cuban is a sweeping cultural history of the sustained encounter between the peoples of the two countries and of the ways that this encounter helped shape Cubans' identity, nationality, and sense of modernity from the early 1850s until the revolution of 1959. Using an enormous range of Cuban and U.S. sources--from archival records and oral interviews to popular magazines, novels, and motion pictures--Perez reveals a powerful web of everyday, bilateral connections between the United States and Cuba and shows how U.S. cultural forms had a critical influence on the development of Cubans' sense of themselves as a people and as a nation. He also articulates the cultural context for the revolution that erupted in Cuba in 1959. In the middle of the twentieth century, Perez argues, when economic hard times and political crises combined to make Cubans painfully aware that their American-influenced expectations of prosperity and modernity would not be realized, the stage was set for revolution.
With this masterful work, Louis A. Pĩrez Jr. transforms the way we view Cuba and its relationship with the United States. On Becoming Cuban is a sweeping cultural history of the sustained encounter between the peoples of the two countries and of t
A severe social and political crisis in El Salvador during politicians, religious figures and activists through strikes but organized the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMNL) and launched an armed insurrection against the government in early 1981. Within months, the FMLN established itself in control over two departments which it was to guerrillas support base in the countryside. Although bombardments, strafing, shelling, summary execution of anybody captured, and massacres of civilians became the norm of the day, the FMLN continued growing in strength and by 1983, reached the peak of its power and control over the countryside. El Salvador, Volume 1: Crisis, Coup and Uprising 1970-1983 is the first inclusive and incisive military history of this incredibly vicious, merciless war: one of two major conflicts fought in Central America during the 1980s within the context of the Cold War. Based on official documentation and carefully cross-referenced secondary sources, it is lavishly illustrated with original photographs and custom-drawn color profiles and is an indispensable single-point source of reference.
Rich in period analysis, here is fascinating historical perspective covering 250 years of existence primarily of a 1750 Spanish settlement originally called Villa del Seor San Ignacio de Loyola de Revilla and now known as "Guerrero Viejo." Although many books cover the genealogical aspects of families that originated in this city, the historical contributions of the early pioneers, their descendents, and the controversy related to land grants, called Porciones -- awarded by the King of Spain -- have, for the most part, remained in the background. This, then, is the principal objective of this book. The book provides summaries on the evolution, history, wars, and problems of Mexico. Using som...
“This deeply researched, engagingly presented, and immensely valuable book demolishes longstanding myths about Mexican California as a colorful, custom-bound world apart. In place of this fantasy past, Louise Pubols offers a history of the de la Guerras that reveals a family and a society caught up in, yet not wholly overcome by, the global economic and political developments of the first half of the nineteenth century.”—Stephen Aron, Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of the American West at the Autry National Center “The Father of All combines first-rate historical analysis with in-depth archival ...
A journey through the national pastime’s roots in America’s small towns and wide-open spaces: “An absorbing read.” —The Tampa Tribune In the film Field of Dreams, the lead character gives his struggling farming community a magical place where the smell of roasted peanuts gently wafts over the crowded grandstand on a warm summer evening, just as the star pitcher takes the mound. In The Farmers’ Game, David Vaught examines the history and character of baseball through a series of essay-vignettes—presenting the sport as essentially rural, reflecting the nature of farm and small-town life. Vaught does not deny or devalue the lively stickball games played in the streets of Brooklyn,...
A dramatic history of a group of families in post-gold rush California who turned to agriculture when mining failed. “It is a glorious country,” exclaimed Stephen J. Field, the future U.S. Supreme Court justice, upon arriving in California in 1849. Field’s pronouncement was more than just an expression of exuberance. For an electrifying moment, he and another 100,000 hopeful gold miners found themselves face-to-face with something commensurate to their capacity to dream. Most failed to hit pay dirt in gold. Thereafter, one illustrative group of them struggled to make a living in wheat, livestock, and fruit along Putah Creek in the lower Sacramento Valley. Like Field, they never forgot ...
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Vacaville, named for its founder, Juan Manual Vaca, grew up next to what has become a major highway to Sacramento and points north. It became famous for its Nut Tree Restaurant, which for decades offered travelers the produce of this fertile fruit-growing region. Now the modern highway bypasses VacavilleA[a¬a[s historic downtown, leaving it to be enjoyed by the growing population of greater Vaca Valley. Even though the modern city has grown out to engulf that new highway and an ever more diversified economy continues to thrive, old Vacaville still feels and looks like a small town of another era. Unscathed by earthquake since 1892, enlightened city officials have not only preserved much of the original downtown but have added a A[a¬ACreekwalkA[a¬A that gives an air of quiet greenery.