Book Review

Conquering Nature: The Environmental Legacy of Socialism in Cuba. By Sergio Diaz-Briquets and Jorge Pérez López. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000. xiii + 328 pp. Maps, tables, notes, references, index. Cloth $50.00, paper $22.95.

Although environmental history as such has had a very limited presence within Cuban historical research, some nineteenth century authors, such as naturalists Ramón de la Sagra and Miguel Rodríguez Ferrer, did mention the adverse consequences deforestation was having on the island. During the twentieth century several well-known Cuban historians, such as Manuel Moreno Fraginals in El Ingenio (Havana, 1964) and Levi Marrero in his Cuba. Economía y Sociedad (Madrid, 1971–1992) paid special attention to environmental deterioration caused by the expansion of sugarcane plantations, especially during the nineteenth century. Similar problems also are addressed by Roland T. Ely and Laird Bergad. Joseph Opatný´s article "Los cambios socioeconómicos y el medioambiente. Cuba. Primera mitad del siglo XIX" (Revista de Indias, 1996) also should be mentioned. Other recent works lie within the general course of environmental history. Such are the articles by Mark J. Smith on "The political economy of sugar production and the environment of eastern Cuba, 1898–1923" (Environmental History, 1995) and the pages dedicated to Cuba in Richard P. Tucker's book Insatiable Appetite: The United States and the Ecological Degradation of the Tropical World (Berkeley, 2000). Stuart McCook's dissertation "The agricultural awakening of Latin America: Science, development and nature" (Princeton, 1996) and David Watt's somewhat wider and chronologically oriented "The West Indies: Patterns of Development, culture and environmental change since 1492" (Cambridge, 1987) have dealt with the environmental implications of sugarcane cultivation. Reinaldo Funes's article on the origins and perspectives of Cuba's environmental history also can be consulted (in González de Molina and Martínez Alier, eds., Naturaleza Transformada. Estudios de Historia Ambiental en España, Icaria, Barcelona, 2001).	1
Winds of Change, by Louis A. Pérez, Jr., contributes an unprecedented review of the impact on Cuban politics, society and culture of a rather frequent (but also frequently overlooked) natural feature of the island's history: hurricanes. This is the first extensive publication on this subject. The introductory chapters are devoted to the origin of hurricanes and their general incidence on the Caribbean region, particularly on Cuba, from 1492 until the first half of the nineteenth century, and to changes in Cuban economy and society during the same period, where agricultural production became more diversified (coffee plantations developed along with sugar cane). The core of the book analyzes the specific impact of three strong hurricanes on western Cuba in 1842, 1844, and 1846, and their influence not only on the economy but on social and political conditions, including those bearing on relations with Spain. The last chapter examines the role of hurricanes on the formation of the Cuban nation and culture.	2
The author has made good use of documents that traditionally have been viewed from other perspectives, such as local histories and the testimonies of travelers. The consultation of Cuban scientific literature on hurricanes is also quite unprecedented.	3
The main goal of this book is to incorporate the influence of hurricanes into the set of variables that have contributed to the formation of the Cuban nation, although the author is well aware that hurricanes acted more as catalysts than as decisive elements within this process. For instance, Perez points out that the crisis of coffee production in western Cuba in the 1840s was due to three strong hurricanes that affected this region, but he also states that strong competition on the international market transformed this otherwise temporary setback into a final crisis.	. . .