Jonathan M. Hansen

I completed this year's literary tour of U.S. territories with Guantánamo: An American History. I hadn't heard of the U.S. base there until it became a detention center for enemy combatants and suspected terrorists after 9/11. However, that's only the latest news in the bay's long history.

Starting with Columbus, Hansen tells of the discovery of the bay and how it changed hands through its history, ending up with its permanent lease to the U.S. for use as a military base. Cuba is strategically located at the meeting point of the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico. Guantánamo Bay is near the southeastern point of the island, a part of the island that was historically underpopulated, making it vulnerable to invasion. It became a destination for groups fleeing other island nations in the region, particularly African slaves and French Haitians.

The U.S. acquired its base at Guantánamo following the Spanish-American War in the late 19th century. Hansen then follows its history as a base, from the prohibition era, where military personnel could enjoy the alcohol that was unavailable to them in the U.S., to the rise of Castro, when access was cut off to the rest of Cuba.

I found the first two thirds of the book much more interesting than the last third of the book. The last two chapters cover the period in which the base was used to house and process Haitian refugees in the late 1980s/early 1990s and its current use as a detention center for enemy combatants and suspected terrorists in the War on Terror. The book lost its focus on Guantánamo at this point and became a political commentary. The author's bias is evident in this section of the book. He explains one side of the controversy very well. Readers wanting to delve into both sides of these complex issues will need to look elsewhere for a balanced approach.… (mere)