This book provides a detailed history of Cuba from the earliest times to the present. Particular emphasis is given to the continuation of the 35-year-long US economic embargo of the island in the context of Cuba's struggle for survival in the so-called 'Special Period', following the collapse of the Socialist bloc. The history is traced from before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the late fifteenth century, through the subsequent Spanish colonization of the island and the four centuries of Spanish-imposed slavery, to the US involvement in Cuba in the twentieth century and the impact of the successful Castro revolution of 1959. It is argued by the author that the current policy of Washington, reinforced by new legislation (1992), has virtually no support in the world community, is a violation of international law, and today involves the United States in crimes against humanity.