“Exceptionally smart and timely. . . . This book offers a powerful reminder of the human cost of these politically motivated immigration experiments.”—H-Net
“A strong contribution to the scholarship of U.S.-Cuban relations, and in addition, it contributes to our understandings of how young people have been used by states in contests over migration, power, and ideological commitment.”—Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe
“A compelling, wide-ranging, and in-depth study. Shnookal successfully mines a wealth of material on the Operation to develop a highly original and meticulously documented account. Shnookal carefully dissects the different perspectives and arguments raised by participants, observers, and scholars, and engages in rich and fruitful dialogue with all.”—Aviva Chomsky, author of A History of the Cuban Revolution
“The most complete, balanced, and best-researched book on Operation Pedro Pan. Engaging and beautifully written.”—Felix Masud-Piloto, author of From Welcomed Exiles to Illegal Immigrants: Cuban Migration to the U.S., 1959–1995
“A fascinating, complex story. Shnookal has researched extremely widely, in the United States and Cuba alike, talking to protagonists in both countries. The thorny issue of Latin American migrant children in the U.S. has a long and tragic history, and Operation Pedro Pan is a significant part of this tale.”—Karen Dubinsky, author of Babies without Borders: Adoption and Migration across the Americas
“Telling the story from both sides of the Florida Straits, this book expertly contextualizes the experience of the Cuban Revolution’s youngest generation within the complex crosscurrents of the anti-Castro underground, the growing disaffection of the Cuban Catholic Church, and Washington’s propaganda war against the revolution.”—Michelle Chase, author of Revolution within the Revolution: Women and Gender Politics in Cuba, 1952–1962
Deborah Shnookal is a research fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies, Melbourne, Australia. She is coeditor of José Martí Reader: Writings on the Americas.
Publication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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