The House on G Street - by Lisandro Pérez (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Through the intimate lens of one family, the dramatic history that led to the Cuban Revolution is brought to life in this highly personal and moving story that combines memoir, oral history, family papers, and archival research"--

Book Synopsis

The unforgettable story of a family swept into history by the Cuban Revolution

In The House on G Street, award-winning author Lisandro Pérez tells Cuba's story through the lens of a single family: his own. His book relays the tales of two officers who fought against the Spanish for Cuban independence; a plantation owner who smuggles himself onto a ship; families divided by political loyalties; an orphaned boy from central Cuba who would go on to amass a fortune; a fatal love triangle; violence; and the ever-growing presence of the United States. It all culminates with an unforgettable portrait of a childhood spent in a world that was giving way to another one. The House on G Street is a unique depiction of one of the most consequential events of the twentieth century, told through generations of ancestors whose lives were shaped by dramatic historical forces.

Pérez disentangles the complex history by following his family's thread, imbuing political events with personal meaning. Their story begins with emigration to Cuba and follows the waning years of the colony. The end of Spanish rule gives way to pervasive American influence, and Perez's family turned to New York as they adapted to the realities of a new republic with compromised sovereignty: privileged educations in boarding schools in Long Island and the Hudson Valley; a family business that took tobacco leaves from the soil of central Cuba to the docks of the East River; and grandparents who met and fell in love one night in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. His family learned to navigate the uneasy relationship between the United States and Cuba, a relationship that was destined to end in dramatic fashion.

More than sixty years later, the Cuban Revolution resists receding into the past, sparking continued discussion, debate, and reinterpretation. There is a great deal that is known about the broad historical conditions that inexorably pushed Cuba towards revolution, but much less is known about the people who lived that dramatic history. It is a story that, if not recovered and told, will be lost, for Pérez's ancestors lived in a world that no longer exists, swept away by a tide of revolutionary change.

The House on G Street follows a family whose lives mirror the history of a nation. The result is a compelling blend of memoir and in-depth historical research, a remarkable new view of the path to revolution as seen from the first person.

Review Quotes

"The House on G Street will enjoy a long afterlife as source and resource with which to study the complexities of the Cuban upper-middle classes who lived comfortably with if not fully integrated within transnational domains, whose participation in and adaptation to things North American so profoundly shaped the cosmology of Cuban elites at a time when an aroused history was demanding Cuba for Cubans."-- "Hispanic American Historical Review"

"In this nostalgic and reflective multigenerational story, Pérez proudly recalls a joyful family life... Pérez, an accomplished academic, recognizes the irrepressible contradiction between the promises of the Cuban independence hero José Martí--who demanded national sovereignty and social equality--and the rampant Americanization and corrupt politics that characterized mid-twentieth-century Cuba."-- "Foreign Affairs"

"A deeply personal, nostalgic, and beautifully narrated story of Cuba. It is a window into the lives of the upper classes, where Cadillacs and Hollywood mesh with Cuban patriots, sugar, and tobacco. The protagonists of this story may not be precisely heroes but lived full lives in the company of their loved ones, those who gathered every Sunday at the family home. It is time to recall the obvious: those living on G Street were Cubans too."--Alejandro de la Fuente, author of A Nation for All: Race, Inequality, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Cuba

"A founding figure in the field of Cuban Studies, Pérez now turns his attention to the story of his own family. The saga of the Pérez-Fonts clan reflects broader forces shaping Cuban history itself. Infused with nostalgia, yet never shy of confronting difficult truths, The House on G Street offers an uncommonly intimate, deeply researched, and moving look at a Cuban world long gone."--Michael J. Bustamante, author of Cuban Memory Wars: Retrospective Politics in Revolution and Exile

"A wonderful retrospective of a Cuban family as it moved and adapted to the drama of the country across centuries. A book written to be enjoyed and to be engaged with. A triumph."--Alejandro Portes, University of Miami

"An evocative and intimate history of Cuba from its War of Independence from Spain, to the formation of the Republic, and to the 1959 revolution. His meticulous research of politics and the economy is beautifully interwoven with his personal history, reminding us that the past is a lived experience."--María de los Ángeles Torres, University of Illinois at Chicago

"Based on meticulous research and a treasure trove of family archives, the story told here with wit and humor is a thoroughly original page-turner, often astonishing, always engrossing, but above all eye-opening, illuminating the larger canvas of a tumultuous history in captivating detail."--Rubén G. Rumbaut, coauthor of Immigrant America: A Portrait

"Lisandro Pérez has written an instant classic. At once a history of Cuba drawing on decades of his fine scholarship, an intimate and fascinating chronicle of two intertwined families living through that long history, and a moving coming-of-age memoir, this highly original and beautiful book is something to be treasured."--Ada Ferrer, author of Pulitzer-Prize Winner Cuba: An American History