Back From the Future

Susan Eva Eckstein is Professor of Sociology at Boston University. She is the past President of the Latin American Studies Association and an Associate of Harvard University's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. She has authored many books and most recently co-edited Struggles for Social Rights in Latin America (Routledge, 2002).

"Back From the Future is arguably the best sociological book on the origins and evolution of the Cuban revolutionary experiment. The book provides an invaluable guide, for expert and neophyte alike, of the complexities and paradoxes of this unique national phenomenon." -- Alejandro Portes, co-author of Legacies:The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation"A decade after the Cold War's end, those who worship and loathe Fidel Castro are still debating the Cuban revolution's legacy. Eckstein side-steps this sterile debate and offers a superb historical and comparative evaluation. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to know where Cuba has come, and where it is going." -- Robert A. Pastor, author of Not Condemned toRepetition: The United States and Nicaragua

• LIST OF TABLES PREFACE FOR THE SECOND EDITION PREFACE FOR THE FIRST EDITION ABBREVIATIONS CHAPTER ONE THE LIMITS AND POSSIBILITIES OF SOCIALISM CHAPTER TWO THE PUSH FOR COMMUNISM AND THE RETREAT TO SOCIALISM: 1959 TO 1985 CHAPTER THREE THE LATE 1980S CAMPAIGN TO RECTIFY ERRORS AND NEGATIVE TENDENCIES: SOCIALIST RENEGADE OR RETROGRADE IN THE ERA OF PERESTROIKA? CHAPTER FOUR FROM COMMUNIST SOLIDARITY TO COMMUNIST SOLITARY: THE 1990S SPECIAL PERIOD IN PEACETIME CHAPTER FIVE THE IRONY OF SUCCESS: SOCIAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND THEIR UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES CHAPTER SIX A MAXIMUM OF RURALISM, A MINIMUM OF URBANISM: FROM IDEALISM TO REALISM CHAPTER SEVEN INTERNATIONALISM CHAPTER EIGHT THE RELEVANCE OF THE REVOLUTION CHAPTER NINE: EPILOGUE: DOLLARIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS IN THE POST SOVIET ERA Appendix: Tables Notes Index