For more than 50 years America’s unrelenting hostility against the Cuban Revolution has resulted in the
development of a siege mentality among island leadership and its citizens. This has affected politics,
economics, culture, and nearly all aspects of everyday life. In a vibrant new look at Cuban-American relations,
Keith Bolender analyzes, through the voices of the powerful and the common, both the positive and negative of revolutionary society constantly under pressure from the world’s greatest powers. Using both historic
and current examination, including comparisons with America under siege since 9/11, the work covers the roots of besiegement, the impact it has had on the Cuban people, and how and when the besiegement will end.

Keith Bolender is a freelance journalist living in Toronto and has written extensively on Cuban matters for a
variety of North American publications, including the Toronto Star, Florida Sun Sentinel, the Council for
Hemispheric Affairs, the Guardian, North American Council on Latin America, Monthly Review, Progresso
Weekly and others. He has been involved with Cuban projects for more than 20 years. He is a member of the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) on their roster of experts for Cuban Affairs. Lecturer on the Cuban Revolution at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Education.