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

In nineteenth-century New York, the Cuban community was the largest Latin American community in the Northeast. This book explores how the sugar trade and the fight for independence from Spain shaped the community, tracing its formation and the stories of individuals and families who made up the fabric of a little-known immigrant world.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 400 pages
\n Publication date: 01 May 2021
\n Publisher: New York University Press
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More than a century before the Cuban Revolution of 1959 ignited an exodus that gave rise to today's prominent Cuban American community, Cubans began to settle in New York City, forming the largest community of Latin Americans in the nineteenth-century Northeast. This book vividly brings this community to 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 purchased vast quantities of raw sugar from Cuba, ultimately creating a significant commercial center for Cuban émigrés as the island descended into the tumultuous decades that would close out the century and shape Cuban nationhood and identity.

New York City became the primary destination for Cuban émigrés seeking education, opportunity, wealth, a new life, escape from royal authority, revolution plotting, freedom, or the purchase and sale of goods. While many of their stories ended tragically, others were steeped in heroism and sacrifice, and still, others were characterized by opportunism and deceit. Lisandro Pérez skillfully weaves together all these stories, revealing the rise of a vibrant and influential community. Historically rich and captivating, Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution immerses the reader in the dramatic 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.

\n Weight: 608g\n
Dimension: 152 x 230 x 30 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780814767283\n \n