Cuba in the 1970s: Pragmatism and Institutionalization : Revised Edition -

A multidiciplinary study of the politics, economics and society in Cuba during the first decade of the Revolution. Spanish edition: Dialéctica de la Revolución Cubana (Madrid, Editorial Playor, 1979, 244 p.). Chinese edition: Qishi niandai de Guba-- Romanized title from the Chinese (Beijing: Institute of Latin American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1980, 207 p.).


"A must reading not only for Caribbeanists and students of political sociology but for anyone interested in the theory and practice of international power politics" (Caribbean Studies, 1979).

 

"An excellent analysis which can be recommended to anyone interested in the last ten years in Cuba" (Francis Lambert, University of Glasgow, Journal of Latin American Studies, 1977).

 

"Exceptionally well written for use in survey courses, well documented and balanced interpretation; approaches the subject in sober and pondered manner" (Anthony Maingot, Latin American Research Review, 1978).

 

" A significant addition to the existing literature" (John D. Martz, Professor of Political Science, University of North Carolina, Perspective, 1975).

 

"This is the most important of the recent books on Cuba. Mesa-Lago has produced a careful, sober and scholarly picture of the Revolution's institutionalization. He provides his work with the balance that is lacking in other books" (Ronald Radosh, CUNY, Dissent, 1976).

 

"We were in need of a book such as this to bring us up to date" (Maria Snethladge, CEDLA, Amsterdam, Boletín de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe, 1976).

 

"A valuable study of the causes and methods by which Cuban policies have, since 1970, increasingly fallen into line with the policies of the Soviet Union" (José Camacho, Institute of Latin America, Free University of Berlin, International Affairs, 1978).

 

"Mesa-Lago tries admirably to interpret the dramatic changes that have altered the course of the Cuban revolution since 1970" (J.G. Ogelsby, University of Western Ontario, International Journal, 1979).

 

"In what may be the best summary of Cuban developments in the last decade, Mesa-Lago has demonstrated again his familiarity with the vast primary and secondary literature in the field and his sensitivity and maturity in interpreting those sources" (South Eastern Latin Americanist, 1975).

 

 "This book constitutes the great published synthesis of the Cuban experiment considered in all its aspects, extremely useful for scholars in the field" (Carlos Romero, Political Scientist, Argos, Caracas, 1980)

 

"An informative, cogent, and well documented discussion of recent policy changes in the Cuban Revolution" (Choice, 1975).

 

"This is an excellent purchase because it digs deeply into the current information and is fairly easy reading. It belongs on every shelf in America" (The Times of the Americas, 1976).

 

"This is perhaps the best scholarly work on recent events and a plausible projection of Cuba's future" (Perspective, 1975).

Carmelo Mesa-Lago is Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics and Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh and has been a visiting professor, researcher or lecturer in 40 countries. He is the author of 82 books and 275 articles/chapters published in seven languages in 34 countries; his most recent is Reassembling Social Security: A Survey of Pension and Healthcare Reforms in Latin America (Oxford University Press, 2008). Mesa-Lago has worked in all Latin American countries and several in the Caribbean, as well as in Germany, Egypt, Ghana, Philippines and Thailand, as a regional advisor for ECLAC, a consultant with the ILO, the International Social Security Association, PAHO, UNRISD, UNDP, and other U.N. branches, as well as most international financial organizations (World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank), and national and foreign foundations. A former President of the Latin American Studies Association, he has been awarded: the inaugural ILO International Prize on Decent Work  (shared with Nelson Mandela), the Alexander Von Humbolt Stiftung Senior Prize and collaborative research grants, two Fulbright Senior Awards, Arthur Whitaker and Hoover Institution Prizes, University of Pittsburgh Senior Research Prize, Annual Recognition from the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, homage from OISS and CISS (for life work on social security), homage from the Institute of Cuban Studies and journal Encuentro (for life work on Cuba), and finalist in Spain's Prince of Asturias Prize on Social Sciences. He is a Member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and of editorial boards of seven academic journals, and has received grants from the Ford, Heinz, Kellogg, Mellon, Reynolds, Rockefeller, Tinker and Inter-American Foundations, SSRC, NSF,  Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung, Japan Foundation and US-Spain Commission for Academic Exchange. Choice have selected several of his books as "outstanding."