Comments on: A Cuban national treasure

By: The Need for Dispassionate Synthesis When Studying Cuban History « Coreys Views

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:15:06 +0000

[...] Moneo’s blog entry presents a brief overview of a recent program he attended at the University of Miami’s Institute of Cuban and Cuban American Studies in which Cuban author and historian Manuel Marquez-Sterling, son of Carlos Marquez-Sterling, a Cuban politician of the late 50’s and early Castro era (when politics ended); gave a presentation on a book he published entitled Cuba, 1952-1959: The True Story of Castro’s Rise to Power. Marquez-Sterling’s principal objective is to present a more complete chronology of events explaining how Castro came to power, with a particular emphasis upon attacking numerous myths generally assumed to be part of the story as it is now widely held within modern historical scholarship. Some of these myths, such as those associated with U.S. support for Batista and the “evolution” of Castro’s ideological development as a Communist, are practically accepted without question among those who study the Cuban Revolution, which makes the problem of understanding Cuba and Castroite rule most difficult. Many important facts are simply not known and, as so many within the Cuban-American community will tell you, are frequently denied or excluded from conversation when they are introduced. [...]

By: StJacques

StJacques — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:29:57 +0000

If I may draw upon some of my own background in History at this moment, I would like to post two links for those of you considering compiling what is essentially Oral History, a specific methodological sub-discipline with the study of History itself. Here is a link to what is essentially a Bibliography of Sources on How to Do Oral History, most of which are published and not online, but at least some of which should be available at a good university library: DoingOralHistory.org And here is a very nice .pdf version of a handbook published by the Texas Historical Commission as a tutorial for local historical and genealogical societies that gets to the point of "how to" in a big hurry, which may be more useful: Fundamentals of Oral History And I would definitely encourage all of you who either have your own story to tell--get someone else to interview you if you want an oral record--or who want to preserve the stories of your own families and known associates to get it done. It is priceless, as I think some of you seem to understand from the comments I just read. StJacques

By: raddoc

raddoc — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:06:32 +0000

Dammit, Spygirl, I'm a doctor, not a historian!

Just kidding...my father is in his mid 80's so I should do this and soon. That whole generation of memories-and the Cuba that was-is coming to an end, and we should do what we can to preserve our memories, and dispel the calumnies perpetrated by the libs.

By: Spygirl

Spygirl — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:54:58 +0000

Raddoc,
If what you say is true, you really need to have those stories written down ASAP. They're priceless. If you have difficulty writing them down, I suggest that you tape them and have somebody transcribe them. But, for God's sake, do it quickly.

By: George Moneo

George Moneo — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:12:49 +0000

No prob. I should send you a list of the misspellings I've collected over the years...

By: StJacques

StJacques — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:52:50 +0000

George, forgive me for misspelling your name in the post. I have edited it and published the correction.

I hate it when people misspell my own. I know how you must feel. Sorry.

By: StJacques

StJacques — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:52:19 +0000

George, major props to you for this post. You have touched upon something I regard as very important; namely, the need for historical accuracy when telling the story of Castro and Cuba. My personal educational background was in the study of History and I have been wanting to put up a blog entry addressing this topic for some time, and I decided that a "link post" to what you have here would be the perfect means to accomplish my objective. I just posted a blog entry at StJacques Online which links back here: The Need for Dispassionate Synthesis When Studying Cuban History I think anyone who reads it should be able to see that I take this very seriously. StJacques

By: Humberto Fontova

Humberto Fontova — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:03:22 +0000

The book's great. Makes absolute hash of the media/academia/Democratic/Castroite piffle on Castro's rise. Man I wish I coulda been at this gig. I sent Marquez-Sterling my regrets in advance for missing it....kind of a long drive for me. But still.....

By: ojc

ojc — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:54:25 +0000

From the bits and pieces I have learned and read of his writings, I agree that Mr. Marquez-St. is a national treasure and I can't wait to get into the book; there's nothing like a real historian armed with real facts to preclude revisionism and the indoctrination of future generations.

By: FreedomForCuba

FreedomForCuba — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:07:09 +0000

"He has many interesting stories as he also knew many of the players."

raddoc,

You need to record these stories, the world needs to know the truth about Fidel Castro, how he got to power in Cuba and what was going on in the island in those days.

The truth needs to reach the people, Fidel Castro's myth must be debunked.

By: raddoc

raddoc — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:55:06 +0000

My father went to law school with Fidel, and later practiced law with him for a short while. Certainly, our family can attest to Fidel being a communist since his law school days. My father and he went their seperate ways after Fidel persisted in having commie evening meetings at their law practice.
Dad also was in politics during the mid to late 50's in Cuba and was later briefly arrested when his anti-Castro contra cell was infiltrated. He has many interesting stories as he also knew many of the players. I plan to buy this book and garner his thoughts. Sounds like a good read.