Fox discusses Lydia Cabrera, a novelist and short story writer many consider the mother of Afro-Cuban studies. Examined are her contributions to Cuba's Africanized popular culture, as well as her bridging the cultures of France, Africa and Cuba.;
"The first article by Keith Ellis, Caribbean Identity and Integration in The Work of Nicolás Guillén, uses examples of Guillén's works to demonstrate that in his poetry, his essays, as well as in his personal relations, he demonstrated a desire to build throughout the Caribbean the kind of consciousness that would facilitate its meaningful integration." (foreword);
Reviews several books on Cuban history before 1959. American Sugar Kingdom: The Plantation Economy of the Spanish Caribbean 1898-1934, by César Ayala; Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868-1898, by Ada Ferrer; Pleasure Island: Tourism and Temptation in Cuba, by Rosalie Schwartz.;
Reviews several books regarding Cuban history which focused on the areas of race, identities, ideology and nationhood. Between Race and Empire: African-Americans and Cubans Before the Cuban Revolution, by Lisa Brock and Digna Castaneda; `El Directorio Central de las Sociedades Negras de Cuba, 1886-1894,'by Oilda Hevia Lanier; Nationalizing Blackness: Afrocubanismo and Artistic Revolution in Havana, 1920-1940, by Robin Moore.;
Discusses the poetry of Afro-Cuban writer Nancy Morejón, focusing on her poetry collection, Paisaje célebre (Fundarte, 1993). Compares the book to her previous work, and discusses the political and social influences that shaped it. Notes that this book marks an important stage in Morejón's poetry, in that it celebrates a new and different country and voice - one of indepedence and freedom.;
