Julia E. Sweig is Senior Research Fellow at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. She is the award-winning author of several other books, including Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground, for which she won the American Historical Association Herbert Feis Award for best book of the year by an independent scholar. She has been traveling to and writing about Cuba since 1984. She lives with her family outside of Washington, DC.
Excellent and... evenhanded.... [It] packs a phenomenal amount of complex history into clear and simple prose. --Los Angeles Times (review of the first edition) Sweig's useful ready reference is highly recommended. --Library Journal (review of the first edition) Splendid...Sweig displays a talent for succinctness and clarity, as well as a subtle, deep knowledge of Cuban affairs. --Foreign Affairs (review of the first edition) For several years, Julia Sweig, America's premier expert on Cuba, has been my guide for all matters related to this beautiful, cursed, and consequential island nation. This book - economical, information-packed, and exceedingly well-written - is Sweig's indispensable contribution to our knowledge of Cuba at a particularly tumultuous time in its history. --Jeffrey Goldberg, National Correspondent, The Atlantic