Thomas G. Paterson is Professor of History at the University of Connecticut. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including On Every Front: The Making and Unmaking of the Cold War, Kennedy's Quest for Victory, and the popular textbook A People and a Nation.
"Succeeds admirably...in telling a story that is crucial to
understanding the frigid standoff that has defined relations
between the United States and Cuba for the last 30 years."--New
York Times Book Review
"Well-written [and] soundly documented....Riveting."--George
McGovern
"Well-told, insightful look at U.S. relations with Castro--private
and public--up to triumphs of Revolution."--Max Friedman,
University of Colorado
"His research in American and English-language sources is
exemplary....Paterson is at his best in delineating the complicated
processes by which American policy was formed and in tracing the
events that led inexorably to the failure of that policy."--The
Journal of American History
"An engaging, lively, well-written account of U.S.-Cuban relations
in the broadest sense, between 1956-59. Brings together a lot of
disparate and interesting information. A good overview."--Professor
Richard J. Walter, Washington University
"[A] well-constructed, persuasively written, and richly detailed
account of two governments and political cultures from the early
1950s until the victory of Fidel Castro's guerrilla forces in
1959."--The Americas
"[A]ccess to previously classified information (patchy though this
may be at times) has enabled Professor Paterson to write
incomparably the best account of why the United States was unable
to respond to the Cuban challenge except negatively, and thus came
to be saddled with its most intractable foreign policy
problem....[S]uperb, thorough and judicious study."--International
Affairs
"[C]omprehensive, masterful diplomatic history"--Florida Historical
Quarterly
"He succeeds admirably...in telling a story that is crucial to
understanding the frigid 'standoff' between the two
countries."--The New York Times Book Review
"Thomas Paterson's fine new book takes us back to the beginning,
when Cuba, under Batista behaved as a good little semicolony
should, and all was more or less right with the world. Paterson
then reconstructs the twists and turns in U.S. policy from 1956 to
1959 and concludes with a terse summary chapter covering the period
from 1960 to the present....Contesting Castro is the best available
account of U.S. policy toward the Cuban
revolution."--American Quarterly
"[A] judicious and thoughtful book....Paterson...makes good use of
now-declassified U.S. State Department documents; he supplements
them with interviews, exchanges of correspondence and documents
from other archives. For the most part, the story is already
familiar, but Paterson gives it flesh and blood and the necessary
detail missing from previous works....[F]ast-moving and
engaging."--The Miami Herald
"A well-written diplomatic history of U.S.-Cuba relations from the
Batista era to the triumph of Castro's revolution."--The Texas
Observer
"A thorough and well-documented analysis by Paterson of how Castro
came to power in Cuba and why the United States failed to stop
him....This is a careful, well-constructed, well-argued, and
essential source."--Kirkus Reviews
"What distinguishes Paterson's book from a plethora of recent works
on Castro and Cuba is its reexamination of the role of the United
States in how Castro came to power. Using thorough documentation,
much of it obtained from Freedom of Information Act requests, the
author explores the Cuban revolutionaries' perceptions of the
United States and U.S. officials' views of Castro....Highly
recommended."--Library Journal
"This well-written, soundly documented narrative--characteristic of
Professor Paterson's work--describes in full 'a deadly combination
of U.S. ignorance and arrogance' that has characterized American
policy toward Cuba and Fidel Castro since the 1950s.
As one who has long believed that America's Cuba policy could
scarcely have been more ill-informed and self-defeating from
Eisenhower and Kennedy to the present day, I urge all American
patriots to read this riveting, realistic account. Professor
Paterson tells the truth about one of the most embarrassing and
costly chapters in U.S. diplomatic history."--former Senator George
McGovern
"A magnificent study. Paterson has made an important contribution
to the understanding of an important period in Cuba-U.S. relations.
The book is especially timely, and required reading for all who
contemplace the past and the future of Cuba-U.S. relations."--Louis
A. Perez, Jr., author of Cuba and the United States: Ties of
Singular Intimacy
"Central questions of U.S. foreign policy--how and why does the
United States define and react to revolutionary upheavals--are
explored in Contesting Castro by one of our most highly respected
and widely read diplomatic historians. Paterson asks the specific
questions: what can we learn from Fidel Castro's astonishing rise
to power in a country long known as an informal U.S. colony?
Paterson answers in a book that will become standard on the
subject,
a book--based largely on previously classified sources--that
demonstrates a sure grasp on this fascinating, instructive
story."--Walter LaFeber, author of Inevitable Revolutions: The U.S.
in Central America
"[A] well-documented study."--Publishers Weekly
"Meticulously researched and well-argued....Fresh and invaluable
insights....An exceptional work that deserves to be widely read and
distributed."--Canadian Journal of History
"[A] long anticipated and highly instructive examination of
Castro's rise to power in 1959. Paterson demonstrates that U.S.
policy toward Cuba reflected the pathologies that, by contaminating
much of the globe's periphery, poorly served America's national
intereest. It supersedes popular and scholarly accounts and will
remain the standard for years to come. Paterson brings to the study
his wide-ranging expertise in the history of U.S. foreign
relations,
analyzes Cuban dynamics and actors as well as American, and writes
in careful and lively prose. Paterson's research is likewise
outstanding."--Richard H. Immerman, American Historical Review
"[A] meticulously researched and well-argued study. One of the
strong points of Paterson's book is his use of previously unknown
documentation. Fresh and invaluable insights are shared by Paterson
into the way in which U.S. policy-makers sought desperately to stop
Fidel Castro's taking power. An exceptional work that deserves to
be widely read."--John M. Kirk, Canadian Journal of History
"Will remain the standard for years to come. This is because
Paterson brings to the study his wide-ranging expertise in the
history of U.S. foreign relations, analyzed Cuban dynamics and
actors as well as American, and writes in careful and lively
prose."--Richard H. Immerman, American Historical Review
"This book enlightens and is a pleasure to read at the same
time."--Charles D. Ameringer, Pacific Historical Review
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