Book Review

The centennial of the Spanish-Cuban-American War produced dozens of commemorative conferences and many published collections of conference papers. This collection on foreign affairs is one of the best. While many conference papers have been repetitive, these articles often break new ground. There are ten essays centered on European perceptions of the United States intervention in Cuba, which largely fall into two categories: national newspaper comment and foreign office views. The authors have sought out many areas of European newspaper comment that have heretofore been overlooked, and they have also provided some new citations to foreign office documents. The introduction to this collection of articles provides a good summary of European perspectives, buttressed by an excellent bibliography of secondary works.

1

The European press and government officials frequently viewed the Spanish-American conflict in terms of liberal values versus conservative principles. Liberals championed republican, nationalist, democratic, Protestant, reformist agendas. Conservatives favored monarchy, legitimacy, international law, Catholicism, and elitist privilege. The former tended to favor the United States, the latter Spain. European viewers frequently related the Spanish-American conflict to their own internal political and social developments. Many saw the unfolding international drama as a means to take a stand on their domestic affairs and attempted to use the evolving foreign confrontation to influence national politics.

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