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Guantánamo

An American History
by Jonathan M. Hansen
Guantánamo: An American History. Hill & Wang: Farrar. Oct. 2011. 448p. illus. index. ISBN 9780809053414. $30. HIST
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Hansen (social studies, Harvard; The Lost Promise of Patriotism: Debating American Identity, 1890–1920) here isn't simply presenting the history of America's naval base (GTMO) on the southeastern coast of Cuba; his story takes readers from the arrival of Columbus to the 2002 arrival of prisoners in the so-called war on terror. The perfect deep-water port, Guantánamo was once the U.S. Navy's ideal base in the Caribbean, but its strategic value had diminished over the years, and it was seldom in the news until the post-9/11 period. Hansen places GTMO in an international and regional perspective, recalling the role of the base during Castro's revolution in a fascinating chapter and concluding with a revealing chapter on the "Gitmo" prison. He never loses the Cuban perspective and the internal divisiveness here at home about Guantánamo's future.
VERDICT More comprehensive than Stephen Irving Max Schwab's Guantanamo USA, this well-researched and well-written book will appeal to all readers but especially to those interested in American history as it relates to Cuba and the Caribbean.
Reviewed by Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Libs., AL , Sep 01, 2011
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