{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260418T162306Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1469626608?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"1469626608","authors":["William M. LeoGrande","Peter Kornbluh"],"book_id":"9781469626604","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/back-channel-to-cuba-1469626608","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781469626604.jpg?v=20260418T162306Z%3A2026-04-19T10%3A16%3A55Z","description":"History is being made in U.S.-Cuban relations. Now in paperback and updated to tell the real story behind the stunning December 17, 2014, announcement by President Obama and President Castro of their move to restore full diplomatic relations, this powerful book is essential to understanding ongoing efforts toward normalization in a new era of engagement. Challenging the conventional wisdom of perpetual conflict and aggression between the United States and Cuba since 1959, Back Channel to Cuba chronicles a surprising, untold history of bilateral efforts toward rapprochement and reconciliation. William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh here present a remarkably new and relevant account, describing how, despite the intense political clamor surrounding efforts to improve relations with Havana, negotiations have been conducted by every presidential administration since Eisenhower’s through secret, back-channel diplomacy. From John F. Kennedy’s offering of an olive branch to Fidel Castro after the missile crisis, to Henry Kissinger’s top secret quest for normalization, to Barack Obama’s promise of a new approach, LeoGrande and Kornbluh uncovered hundreds of formerly secret U.S. documents and conducted interviews with dozens of negotiators, intermediaries, and policy makers, including Fidel Castro and Jimmy Carter. They reveal a fifty-year record of dialogue and negotiations, both open and furtive, that provides the historical foundation for the dramatic breakthrough in U.S.-Cuba ties.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781469626604","publication_date":"20151101","publisher":"The University of North Carolina Press","slug":"back-channel-to-cuba","subtitle":"The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana","title":"Back Channel to Cuba"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS041010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Cuban History","score":0.8297,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037100","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Cold War History","score":0.7195,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century America","score":0.718,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS041010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Cuban History","score":0.8297,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037100","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Cold War History","score":0.7195,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century America","score":0.718,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036060","confidence_band":"high","label":"20th-Century America","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS041010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Cuban History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POL011010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Diplomacy","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Cuban History","score":0.8297,"slug":"cuban-history"},{"label":"Cold War History","score":0.7195,"slug":"cold-war-history"},{"label":"20th-Century America","score":0.718,"slug":"20th-century-america"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Cuban History","Good for fans of History","Good for readers who enjoy Cuban History and Cold War History."],"related_lists":[{"intro":"As Cuba courts diaspora investment amid rolling blackouts and deepening crisis, these histories and analyses trace the revolutionary politics, US-Cuba diplomacy, and economic constraints shaping whether reform can actually take hold.","slug":"cultural-currents-cuba-economic-transition-readershelf","title":"Cuba Between Blockade and Reform","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/lists/cultural-currents-cuba-economic-transition-readershelf"}],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Dr. Ada Ferrer","Ada Ferrer"],"book_id":"9781501154560","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781501154560.jpg?v=20260418T162306Z%3A2026-04-19T10%3A16%3A55Z","score":9.7722,"title":"Cuba (winner of the Pulitzer Prize)","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781501154560"},{"authors":["Jane Franklin","Noam Chomsky"],"book_id":"9781583676059","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781583676059.jpg?v=20260418T162306Z%3A2026-04-19T10%3A16%3A55Z","score":9.6863,"title":"Cuba and the U.s. Empire","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781583676059"},{"authors":["Keith Bolender"],"book_id":"9780745330402","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780745330402.jpg?v=20260418T162306Z%3A2026-04-19T10%3A16%3A55Z","score":9.6007,"title":"Voices From the Other Side","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780745330402"},{"authors":["Joan Mellen"],"book_id":"9781634502771","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781634502771.jpg?v=20260418T162306Z%3A2026-04-19T10%3A16%3A55Z","score":9.356,"title":"The Great Game in Cuba","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781634502771"},{"authors":["Tom Gjelten"],"book_id":"9780143116325","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780143116325.jpg?v=20260418T162306Z%3A2026-04-19T10%3A16%3A55Z","score":9.331,"title":"Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780143116325"},{"authors":["Jonathan C. Brown"],"book_id":"9780674971981","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780674971981.jpg?v=20260418T162306Z%3A2026-04-19T10%3A16%3A55Z","score":9.3226,"title":"Cuba's Revolutionary World","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780674971981"},{"authors":["Simon Hall"],"book_id":"9780571367153","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780571367153.jpg?v=20260418T162306Z%3A2026-04-19T10%3A16%3A55Z","score":9.147,"title":"Three Revolutions","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780571367153"},{"authors":["M. Stanton Evans"],"book_id":"9781400081066","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781400081066.jpg?v=20260418T162306Z%3A2026-04-19T10%3A16%3A55Z","score":9.0193,"title":"Blacklisted by History","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781400081066"}],"topics":[],"what_you_get":["Reading lane: Cuban History and Cold War History.","Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":128,"goodreads_ratings_count":221,"goodreads_reviews_count":27,"quality_score":0.8955}}