Contesting Castro by Thomas G. Patterson: The United States and the Triumph of the CubansIn his book Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cubans, Thomas G. Patterson explores Cuban relations with the United States under the Batista and Castro regimes. In the 1950s, when Fulgencio Batista was in power, the United States exercised quasi-imperialist domination over Cuba. Patterson uses the word “hegemony” to describe this domination. He defines hegemony as “the domination or preponderant influence that allowed American decisions to condition Cuba’s politics, economy, culture, society and military.” American hegemony gave North Americans the power to establish and maintain most of the rules by which Cubans lived and which governed Cuban-American relations” (7). At that time, the United States imposed itself on Cuba without really understanding its people or its culture. The United States viewed Cubans as an “emotional, romantic, childish people suffering from excessive pride” (6). The United States clearly had little respect for the Cubans. Furthermore, Cubans believed that the strong and multifaceted American influence was causing Cuba to lose its “independent identity” (8). in Latin America” (34). This is mainly because Cuba exported half of its sugar and two-thirds of its total exports to the United States, and imported three-quarters of its total imports from the United States (35). Although the United States boosted the Cuban economy, Cubans were unhappy that they were still living at a lower economic level than Americans. The average Cuban income was one-third that of Mississippi, the poorest state in the United States middle of paper......this is historical facts about the revolution. It offers a historiography that presents the social and economic influences on the revolution and presents the events in chronological order. What I liked about his book is that it presents a study of American influence on Cuba and the hegemonic relationship they had. It presents a bias against the United States, not in favor of communism but in favor of Cuban sovereignty. I would recommend this book to scholars and students because it offers a different perspective on the revolution. However, although this book provides historical information about Cuba, the fact that the author presents an opinion disqualifies it for use as a textbook. Bibliography: Paterson, Thomas G. Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Pp. 352.