New Books in History Renata Keller, "The Fate of the Americas: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Hemispheric Cold War" (UNC Press, 2025)
Nov 25, 2025
Renata Keller, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Nevada, Reno, discusses her upcoming book on the Cuban Missile Crisis. She reveals how the crisis profoundly affected Latin America, challenging the conventional US-USSR narrative. Keller highlights the regional unrest, including Bolivia's riots and Nicaragua’s pro-Castro demonstrations, illustrating that ordinary citizens were pivotal in shaping the political landscape. She also addresses contemporary echoes of the crisis, linking security, sovereignty, and solidarity across the Americas.
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Three Core Hemispheric Concerns
- Latin Americans framed the Missile Crisis around security, sovereignty, and solidarity rather than just capitalism vs. communism.
- These three shared values shaped actions across governments and publics during the hemispheric Cold War.
Cuban Revolution As Catalyst
- The Cuban Revolution provoked both inspiration and alarm across Latin America and reshaped regional politics.
- Anti-Cuban actions by states helped prompt Khrushchev's decision to offer missiles to Castro.
Beyond A Bilateral Narrative
- The crisis included OAS multilateral diplomacy, UN appeals, protests, pamphlet campaigns, and sabotage across Latin America.
- Latin American states and citizens actively shaped the crisis beyond the US–USSR binary.
