Jonathan M. Hansen
My work holds up a mirror to United States history, juxtaposing the nation’s claim to be the beacon of liberty and the rule of law to its checkered record in realizing these principles at home and abroad.
An intimate, revisionist portrait of the early years of Fidel Castro
HOW AN UNLIKELY YOUNG CUBAN LED HIS COUNTRY IN REVOLUTION AND TRANSFIXED THE WORLD.
My Books
A nation ignorant of its history is like an adult without memory—lost, disoriented, unhinged.
– Jonathan Hansen
Young Castro
The Making of a Revolutionary
The first American historian in a generation to gain access to the Castro archives in Havana, Jonathan Hansen was able to secure cooperation from Castro’s family and closest confidants, gaining access to hundreds of never-before-seen letters and to interviews with people he was the first to ask for their impressions of the man.
A trip to the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, introduces you to far more than a notorious prison. It takes you back in time to before the United States was even a country, connecting recent developments from the war on terror to epochal events in the nation’s history—and, indeed, the history of the Atlantic World.
The Making of a Revolutionary
Guantánamo
An American History
The Lost Promise of Patriotism
Debating American Identity: 1890-1920
During the years leading up to World War I, America experienced a crisis of civic identity. How could a country founded on liberal principles and composed of increasingly diverse cultures unite to safeguard individuals and promote social justice?
My Books
A nation ignorant of its history is like an adult without memory—lost, disoriented, unhinged.
– Jonathan Hansen
Jonathan M. Hansen
Jonathan Hansen is Senior Lecturer on Social Studies and Faculty Associate, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. He is the author of books, articles, essays, and reviews on U.S. politics, imperialism, nationalism, and race and ethnicity. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, and Cognoscenti, among other places.
Gallery of Images
The collection of photographs, taken while at work on a biography of the young Fidel Castro, represents my attempt to capture the geological layers of Cuba’s built environment, while conveying the dynamism and exuberance of its social life.
