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Cubans: An Epic Journey: The Struggle of Exiles for Truth and Freedom
Standing before the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor in October, 1985, President Lyndon Johnson virtually repeated what was inscribed on its base, beckoning “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” The spirit of America, President Johnson said, held asylum as a tradition for the oppressed, and he pledged to “the people of Cuba that those who seek refuge here will find it.” And they did.
Even before the president’s speech, thousands of Cubans had been flooding the shores of America and other countries, with the Freedom Tower in Miami becoming refugees’ sentinel of liberty. Their experience over the last sixty years is captured in An Epic Journey, a collection of more than thirty essays by renowned scholars, historians, journalists, and media professionals. Contributors like magazine publisher Sam Verdeja, print and broadcast journalist Guillermo Martínez, newspaper editor Howard Kleinberg, business executive Louise O’Brien, university professor Leonardo Rodríguez, and broadcast commentator Francisco Rodríguez cover the myriad topics from the fight against a totalitarian regime, to myths about the accomplishments of the Cuban Revolution, to the personal stories of Cubans who have made significant contributions to American society.
The essays in An Epic Journey explore different topics but share a similar endeavor to reveal the complex interrelationships among the Cuban people, their homeland, the exile community, and American government and society. The Cuban experience in America and other countries has proven disappointing and remarkable; disappointing because a homeland was lost and attempts to retrieve it turned into a nightmare, remarkable because refugees settled in their new countries and soon flourished, particularly in the United States, in many aspects of society.
Even before the president’s speech, thousands of Cubans had been flooding the shores of America and other countries, with the Freedom Tower in Miami becoming refugees’ sentinel of liberty. Their experience over the last sixty years is captured in An Epic Journey, a collection of more than thirty essays by renowned scholars, historians, journalists, and media professionals. Contributors like magazine publisher Sam Verdeja, print and broadcast journalist Guillermo Martínez, newspaper editor Howard Kleinberg, business executive Louise O’Brien, university professor Leonardo Rodríguez, and broadcast commentator Francisco Rodríguez cover the myriad topics from the fight against a totalitarian regime, to myths about the accomplishments of the Cuban Revolution, to the personal stories of Cubans who have made significant contributions to American society.
The essays in An Epic Journey explore different topics but share a similar endeavor to reveal the complex interrelationships among the Cuban people, their homeland, the exile community, and American government and society. The Cuban experience in America and other countries has proven disappointing and remarkable; disappointing because a homeland was lost and attempts to retrieve it turned into a nightmare, remarkable because refugees settled in their new countries and soon flourished, particularly in the United States, in many aspects of society.
1058 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 16, 2022
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