Jos Mart Cuban Apostle

"A Posthumous History of Josâe Martâi: The Apostle and His Afterlife focuses on Martâi's posthumous legacy and his lasting influence on succeeding generations of Cubans on the island and abroad. Over 120 years after his death on a Cuban battlefield in 1895, Martâi studies have long been the contested property of opposing sides in an ongoing ideological battle. Both the Cuban nation-state, which claims Martâi as a crucial inspiration for its Marxist revolutionary government, and diasporic communities in the US who honor Martâi as a figure of hope for the Cuban nation-in-exile, insist on the centrality of his words and image for their respective visions of Cuban nationhood. The book also explores more recent scholarship that has reassessed Martâi's literary, cultural, and ideological value, allowing us to read him beyond the Havana-Miami axis toward engagement with a broader historical and geographical tableau. Martâi has thus begun to outgrow his mutually-reinforcing cults in Cuba and the diaspora, to assume his true significance as a hemispheric and global writer and thinker"--

Once called 'the wellspring of the revolution' by Fidel Castro, Jose Marti (1853-1895) is revered as one of the greatest figures in the history of Cuba. Not only was he instrumental in the late nineteenth-century cause of securing Cuban independence from Spain. He is also considered one of Cuba's most brilliant writers, orators and formative intellectuals, who provided inspiration to the young Fidel, Che and their fellow revolutionaries by dedicating his whole life to the goal of national political emancipation. Jose Marti suffered persecution and early imprisonment for his convictions, and in consequence is often referred to as the 'Cuban Apostle'. In this wide-ranging discussion of Marti's life, work and influence, distinguished Cuban poet Cintio Vitier and prominent Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda explore their subject's understanding of non-violence; his nationalism that was also a profound openness to difference and dialogue; his spirituality; his poetical writings; and most of all his fundamental dignity, humanity and self-mastery. The book explores above all the nature of sacrifice, and the cost of relinquishing personal happiness for the sake of a great cause. The discussants examine Marti's family life, including his difficult relationships with his wife - Carmen Zayas Bazan - and his parents, who distanced themselves from his revolutionary fervour. Comparisons are drawn between Marti's ideals and Nichiren Buddhism as a source of unfailing hope and courage. As Daisaku Ikeda, follower of Nichiren, says at one point in the dialogue: 'Self-mastery is the hardest thing of all. But to have a spiritual nature worthy of the name, a person must overcome himself, a task that only a true optimist can accomplish. Marti's perspicacity is revealed in his conviction that final victory in life is assured by such optimists.' Marti, like Nichiren, had the unerring ability to turn enemies into friends. And as Cintio Vitier and Daisaku Ikeda reveal, what set Marti apart was not his thought or ideas alone but what emanated from his words and found embodiment in his actions. It was thus that a follower at the time could say of him: we don't understand him, but we are ready to die for him.

Focusing on a period of history rocked by four armed movements, Lillian Guerra traces the origins of Cubans' struggles to determine the meaning of their identity and the character of the state, from Cuba's last war of independence in 1895 to the consolidation of U.S. neocolonial hegemony in 1921. Guerra argues that political violence and competing interpretations of the "social unity" proposed by Cuba's revolutionary patriot, Jose Marti, reveal conflicting visions of the nation--visions that differ in their ideological radicalism and in how they cast Cuba's relationship with the United States. As Guerra explains, some nationalists supported incorporating foreign investment and values, while others sought social change through the application of an authoritarian model of electoral politics; still others sought a democratic government with social and economic justice. But for all factions, the image of Marti became the principal means by which Cubans attacked, policed, and discredited one another to preserve their own vision over others'. Guerra's examination demonstrates how competing historical memories and battles for control of a weak state explain why polarity, rather than consensus on the idea of the "nation" and the character of the Cuban state, came to define Cuban politics throughout the twentieth century.

Tracking Cuban history from 1492 to the present, The Cuba Reader includes more than one hundred selections that present myriad perspectives on Cuba's history, culture, and politics. The volume foregrounds the experience of Cubans from all walks of life, including slaves, prostitutes, doctors, activists, and historians. Combining songs, poetry, fiction, journalism, political speeches, and many other types of documents, this revised and updated second edition of The Cuba Reader contains over twenty new selections that explore the changes and continuities in Cuba since Fidel Castro stepped down from power in 2006. For students, travelers, and all those who want to know more about the island nation just ninety miles south of Florida, The Cuba Reader is an invaluable introduction.

"A critical study of the demonic imagery that has been persistently embedded and codified in America's war culture. The authors examine "the devil myth" in both its past and present iterations and also highlight the counter-myth of the "trickster figure"whose democratic impulses have occasionally succeeded in countering the impulse towards demonization. To unveil the devil myth, the authors identify outward projections of evil onto the faces of America's enemies. They begin by scrutinizing the image of evildoers used to justify the global war on terror. It is difficult, they observe, to recognize this literalized image as a rhetorical construction subject to critical reflection without revisiting earlier manifestations of the devil myth in American history. Mythical projection is a cyclical process of political culture, they argue. Traces of earlier iterations of the devil myth carry into the present, but enemies are demonized anew in distinctive ways at each historical juncture of national crisis. To illustrate this process, the book includes chapters on demonized figures preceding the war on terror: witches, Indians, dictators, and reds. Each chapter shows how these emotionally loaded symbols have functioned as apparitions of dark foes that must be destroyed to redeem the nation's innocence. In this way, the book reveals how the subliminal figure of the devil haunts U.S. political culture so that war symbolically wards off evil in defense of, but at the cost of curtailing, its democratic soul. One of the study's underlying questions is how the nation can make peace with diversity instead of condemning it as a dark foe carrying the mark of evil. The book works toward an answer by discussing the creative and critical role of the democratic trickster"--

Jose Marti, great Cuban patriot, wrote Spanish articles on the United States during the eighties. In the present sketch, the author has presented Marti to the country he interpreted so sympathetically and has made a living portrait of a rich and complex personality. Originally published in 1953. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

José Martí occupies a central place in Latin American letters, and he is an unparalleled foundational figure in Cuban culture. Martí's writing shaped a hemispheric consciousness in the Americas, and as national poet and patriotic "apostle," he is revered by generations of Cubans everywhere. As essayist, journalist, and revolutionary, Martí fought for Cuban independence and helped defend the ideal of Latin American autonomy against empires old and new. This ground-breaking two-volume work offers the most comprehensive collection of Mart´i's prose work available in English. Where recent translations have offered selective anthologies of Martí's writing, this edition offers a key archive of essays, journalism, speeches, political documents, and historic correspondence, many translated for the first time.