Socialist Cuba : past interpretations and future challenges /

One of the best of a recent spate of books about Cuba. It avoids a major pitfall of edited volumes: unevenness of contributions. All of the authors are well-established Cubanologists, and each provides insightful essays. Jorge Dominguez, Jaun M. del Aguila, and Rhoda Rabkin write on political aspects of the Cuban revolution; Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Sergio Roca, and Jorge Perez-Lopez contribute chapters on the Cuban economy; and Sergio Diaz-Briquets, Carlos Moore, and Margaret Crahan examine social relations in Castro's Cuba. Despite the overall high quality of the work, the section on social relations stands out as a major contribution to understanding the dynamics of Cuba today. Carlos Moore's chapter on race relations in Cuba should be required reading for all students of Cuba. Moore (Cuban Race Relations, 1987) is an outstanding authority on the subject and his objective assessment of Cuban society is well worth the price of the entire collection. Although the book might have profited from some more divergent viewpoints than those expressed here, overall it is of high quality and should be acquired by college libraries. For upper-level students. -E. A. Duff, Randolph-Macon Woman's College