On Sunday, September 25, at 1 p.m. Eastern, the 2022 History Book Festival Closing Address featured Ada Ferrer, author of Cuba: An American History (Scribner, 2022). Ferrer was in conversation with Laurie S. Fulton.

The Closing Address was presented by Joe and Debbie Schell.

About the book
Award-winning historian Ada Ferrer presents an epic, sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United States, from before the arrival of Columbus to the present day. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba provides us with a front-row seat to the evolution of the modern nation, with its dramatic record of conquest and colonization, of slavery and freedom, of independence and revolutions made and unmade. Filled with rousing stories and characters, and drawing on more than 30 years of research in Cuba, Spain, and the United States — as well as the author’s own extensive travel to the island over the same period — this is a stunning and monumental account like no other.

Described by Kirkus in a starred review as “a wonderfully nuanced history of the island nation and its often troubled dealings with its gigantic and voracious neighbor,” Cuba: An American History has won the Pulitzer Prize for History, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History, and the Award for Outstanding Work by a Trade Publisher from the Association of American Publishers.

About the author
Ada Ferrer is the Julius Silver Professor of History and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University, where she has taught since 1995. She is also the author of Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868–1898, and Freedom’s Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution. Born in Cuba and raised in the United States, Ferrer has been traveling to and conducting research on the island since 1990.

Laurie S. Fulton served as U.S. Ambassador to Denmark from July 2009 to February 2013.  She is on the board of the National Archives Foundation and is co-chair of the Ambassadors Circle of the National Democratic Institute, a nonpartisan organization working to strengthen democratic institutions worldwide. 

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
With the help of our presenting sponsors—Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices I PenFed Realty—as well as our community partners and volunteers, the 2022 History Book Festival was full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction.

Special thanks to Lewes Public Library, for venue and assistance with event promotion; to Browseabout Books in Rehoboth, our official bookseller; and to the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.

Mark your calendars for the 2023 History Book Festival. Join our authors, interviewers, and other attendees at live events throughout the weekend of September 29, 30, and October 1.