José Martí and the Intersection of Empires and Economics

Miguel De La Torre has long been the doyen of radical, social ethicists, whose work remains committed to speaking truth to the toxic power of racial capitalism and neo-colonialism. In this meticulous and well written text, Miguel De La Torre outlines the inspiring and complicated life of the Cuban polymath and national hero, José Marti. This work is not just a well executed historical biography, it is also constructive reappraisal of a 19th century 'saint' that speaks to our 21st century challenge of assessing contemporary heroes against a backdrop of often flawed imperfection. In the ongoing struggle for liberation and justice for subaltern peoples across the globe, what is the place of complicated secular saints? This is a must read! * Anthony G. Reddie, University of Oxford, UK * Professor Miguel De La Torre opens for us new vistas in this multifaceted and interdisciplinary study on José Marti in understanding and addressing the injuries and struggles that empires continue to impose in the lives of people and nations. This book is a welcome addition to scholars in the fields of Latin American history, economics, intercultural studies, and Latin American and Latiné religious studies. De La Torre pinpoints in this study the spiritual dimension of José Marti in addressing these complicated issues. I find in this approach a welcome point of departure for current decolonial studies in Latin America. Dr. De La Torre is keenly aware of the inconsistencies, paradoxes, and fallacies faced by Marti because of our human condition. This book is written in this spirit, and with the same evangelical passion that Marti wrote, seeking out repentance, reconciliation, and changes we need to make in order to overcome the iniquities of empires. * Rev. Alberto L. Garcia, Concordia University Wisconsin, USA * De La Torre’s critically constructive powers are in full display here. His central comprehensive scope keeps economics at the center—a history of economic development is always in view—while interjecting other modes of criticism to colorism, militarism, (trans-)migrations, etc. He sifts through the disparate, conflicting strands of Martí’s assessments of empire a, revealing a unique Martí for our time, who evades categorizations and whose critical economic appraisals are as elucidating and necessary today as they were in his time. * José Francisco Morales Torres, Chicago Theological Seminary, USA * In this last part of his trilogy on his intellectual hero for nuestra América and cosmopolitan Cuban alter ego José Marti, Miguel A. De La Torre demythologizes and honors the man by a close reading of his alternative economic vision. * Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Volker Küster, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany *