In Search of Fulgencio Batista: A Reexamination of Pre-Revolutionary Cuban Scholarship

Resumen

This article reviews a wide-ranging bibliography of scholarly studies from both sides of the ideological divide concerning academic and official representations of the pre-revolutionary period in Cuba. The research points to a variety of factors that have influenced scholarly studies in the past—avoidance of the period altogether, the absence of reliable biographies of the principal pre-revolutionary figures of the 1930–1959 period, restricted access to archives, and the promotion of official interpretations, among others. This study also points to the groundbreaking work of leading specialists who seek to bridge the ideological chasm between U.S. and Cuban versions of their recent history. The article centers on the figure of Fulgencio Batista and aims to use his career as a window into the period, a means by which to suggest a variety of issues that need to be reexamined and challenged. A central point of this analysis will be the need to study leading political figures within their historical context, to be aware of the different and contrasting stages in their complex political careers, and to consider the variety of implications that result.