Cuba: A Short History brings together four chapters from Volumes 3, 5, and 7 of The Cambridge History of Latin America to provide for scholars, students and general readers a concise history of this important island nation. Contributors, top scholars in the field, trace the political, economic, and social development of Cuba from the middle of the eighteenth century to the present day. The concluding chapter, updated for this volume, considers the dilemmas and challenges that Castro's Cuba faces in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. Each chapter is accompanied by a bibliographical essay...

When at the beginning of the nineteenth century Britain launched her crusade against the transatlantic slave trade, Brazil was one of the greatest importers of African slaves in the New World. Negro slavery had been the cornerstone of the Brazilian economy and of Brazilian society for over 200 years and the slave population of Brazil required regular replenishment through the trade. In this detailed study Dr Bethell explains how during the period of Brazilian independence from Portugal, Britain forced the Brazilian slave trade to be declared illegal, why it proved impossible to suppress it...

The complete Cambridge History of Latin America presents a large-scale, authoritative survey of Latin America's unique historical experience from the first contacts between the native American Indians and Europeans to the 1980's. First published in 1987, Spanish America after Independence c. 1820 c. 1870 is a selection of chapters from volume III brought together to provide a continuous history of Spanish America during the first half century following independence from Spain. The first two chapters form a general survey of economy and society, politics and ideology for Spanish America as a...

A Cultural History of Latin America brings together chapters from Volumes III, IV, and X of The Cambridge History of Latin America. The essays place Latin American literature, music and visual arts in historical context, from the early nineteenth century through the late twentieth century. Topics include narrative fiction and poetry; indigenous literatures and culture; the development of music, sculpture, painting, mural art, and architecture; and the history of Latin American film. Each chapter is accompanied by a bibliographical essay.