Guerra y Sánchez, Ramiro (1880–1970)

Ramiro Guerra y Sánchez (b. 31 January 1880; d. 30 October 1970), Cuban historian. Because of the intrinsic value and influence of his writings, Guerra, a native of Batabanó, Havana Province, is arguably Cuba's foremost historian of the twentieth century. Starting as a teacher in a modest rural school, he rose to become professor and director of Havana's Normal School, school superintendent of Pinar del Río Province, and national school superintendent. In 1932–1933 he held the position of secretary to the president's cabinet. He also represented Cuba as technical adviser to numerous missions abroad. In his books Guerra severely criticized U.S. policies toward Cuba and Spanish America. Many of them are still classic studies, such as his Guerra de los diez años, 1868–1878, 2 vols. (1950). None, however, has had the impact of Azúcar y población en las Antillas (1927), originally a series of newspaper articles; many editions of it have appeared, including an abridged English translation as Sugar and Society in the Caribbean (1964). This volume, a sober indictment of the dangers of latifundism in Cuba, contributed greatly to shaping the views of the 1933 Cuban revolutionaries.

See alsoLatifundia .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

For a review in English of Guerra's work in the context of Cuban historiography, see Robert Freeman Smith, "Twentieth-Century Cuban Historiography," Hispanic American Historical Review 44 (February 1964): 44-73.

Additional Bibliography

Whitney, Robert. State and Revolution in Cuba: Mass Mobilization and Political Change, 1920–1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

                                  JosÉ M. HernÁndez