"Back From the Future is arguably the best sociological book on the origins and evolution of the Cuban
revolutionary experiment. The book provides an invaluable guide, for expert and neophyte alike, of the complexities
and paradoxes of this unique national phenomenon."
--Alejandro Portes, co-author of Legacies:The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation
"A decade after the Cold War's end, those who worship and loathe Fidel Castro are still debating the Cuban
revolution's legacy. Eckstein side-steps this sterile debate and offers a superb historical and comparative evaluation.
This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to know where Cuba has come, and where it is going."
--Robert A. Pastor, author of Not Condemned to Repetition:The United States and Nicaragua
Publisher Web Site, September, 2003
Summary
Back From the Future is the definitive analysis of Castro's Cuba from 1959 to the present. The Second Edition
contains a new Preface and Epilogue by the author addressing such important changes of the last decade as the growing
immigrant community of Cuban-Americans in Florida, the withering U.S. embargo on Cuba, the role of Cubans in the
2000 elections, and the inevitable transition of power now that Castro is in his seventies. No other book on Cuba
offers such an in-depth and grounded historical analysis.
Table of Contents
LIST OF TABLES
PREFACE FOR THE SECOND EDITION
PREFACE FOR THE FIRST EDITION
ABBREVIATIONS
CHAPTER ONE
THE LIMITS AND POSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM
CHAPTER TWO
THE "PUSH FOR COMMUNISM" AND THE "RETREAT TO SOCIALISM":1959 TO 1985
CHAPTER THREE
THE LATE 1980S CAMPAIGN TO "RECTIFY ERRORS AND NEGATIVE TENDENCIES":SOCIALIST RENEGADE OR RETROGRADE
IN THE ERA OF PERESTROIKA?
CHAPTER FOUR
FROM COMMUNIST SOLIDARITY TO COMMUNIST SOLITARY:THE 1990S "SPECIAL PERIOD IN PEACETIME"
CHAPTER FIVE
THE IRONY OF SUCCESS:SOCIAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND THEIR UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
CHAPTER SIX
"A MAXIMUM OF RURALISM, A MINIMUM OF URBANISM":FROM IDEALISM TO REALISM
CHAPTER SEVEN
INTERNATIONALISM
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE RELEVANCE OF THE REVOLUTION
CHAPTER NINE:
EPILOGUE:DOLLARIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS IN THE POST SOVIET ERA
