The Spanish-American war of 1898 ended Spain’s four hundred year rule of Cuba, which briefly became a U.S. protectorate. Decades of instability followed, culminating in Fulgencio Batista’s military dictatorship and the 1959 Cuban Revolution, one of the great underdog stories in history, in which a tiny band of young rebels prevailed against a much larger national military. But the Revolution quickly fell under the sway of the U.S.S.R., and the island nation’s previously close ties with the U.S. were abruptly severed.
After a brief warming of relations during the Obama administration, relations between the two countries are now worse than ever, and we find ourselves standing at a critical juncture in the shared history of Cuba and the U.S.A.
This illustrated talk offers a larger historical perspective on the conflictual relationship between these two geographically close but politically distant western hemisphere neighbors, with an eye toward developing a better understanding of the current situation and what the future might hold.
Projector and screen
Available in correctional facilities.
First, contact the speaker by clicking on their biography below to confirm their availability and discuss any special arrangements.
Then, click this “Book this Talk!” button to send a request form to Vermont Humanities. We’ll respond within one week.
Contact Jacob Pelletier at jpelletier@vermonthumanities.org.
A native Vermonter and current resident of Putney, Tim Weed is an award-winning novelist and lecturer. He is the author of four books of fiction, including The Afterlife Project, named a best book of 2025 by Library Journal and the Toronto Star.
On December 27, 1831, after Charles Darwin and Captain Robert Fitzroy shared a final lunch of mutton chops and champagne ashore, the Beagle got underway. Darwin’s firsthand account of the journey, The Voyage of the Beagle, is one of history’s greatest true adventure stories. The voyage was supposed to last two years, but it ended up stretching out to five.
Tim Weed explores Cuba’s long struggle for sovereignty, from the Spanish-American war of 1898 to the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
Some of Ernest Hemingway’s novels and short stories are considered among the greatest ever written. He’s also remembered as an international man of letters, a famous expatriate and macho outdoorsman spending all the right seasons in all the right places: Paris, Pamplona, Key West, Havana, Sun Valley, on safari in Africa. But Hemingway’s life was more complicated than the glamorous image that lives in the popular imagination.
Our seasonal “Words in the Woods” program allows Vermonters and visitors to enjoy our state’s natural beauty while listening to and reading literature in the outdoors.
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We won a 2020 Schwartz Prize for best public humanities programming in the U.S. for Vermont Reads 2019: “March: Book One.”
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