Jose Marti occupies a central place in Latin American letters, and he is an unparalleled foundational figure in Cuban culture. Marti's writing shaped a hemispheric consciousness in the
Americas, and as national poet and patriotic "apostle," he is revered by generations of Cubans everywhere. As essayist, journalist, and revolutionary, Marti fought for Cuban independence and
helped defend the ideal of Latin American autonomy against empires old and new. This ground-breaking two-volume work offers the most comprehensive collection of Marti's prose work available in
English. Where recent translations have offered selective anthologies of Marti's writing, this edition offers a key archive of essays, journalism, speeches, political documents, and historic
correspondence, many translated for the first time. The first volume gathers essential texts and letters that have shaped Cuban history, nationalism, and political ideology, and which
challenged and defined the course of revolutionary struggle. The second volume offers a comprehensive selection of Marti's vision of the Americas, combining his reflections on Latin American
history, culture and political economy, and his critical observations on the modernity and upheavals of the United States in the late nineteenth century.
Volume One, Cuba: The Struggle for Independence includes two main sections. Just Wars and Revolutions represents Marti's writings about Spanish colonial oppression, Cuban insurrections and the
independence wars, revealing his anxieties about revolutionary organization and leadership, and his reflections on military power, civil society, and nationalist struggle. Building the Patria
in Exile reflects Marti's efforts to build Cuban from exile, and his exhortation that the patria should be founded on secular institutions, republican ideals and social enfranchisement and not
merely political or military expediency. The selections reflect his concerns about U.S. imperialism and annexationist designs, his engagement and dialogue with educational and beneficent
organizations, his focus on women as builders and mothers of the nation, and his crafting of a national genealogy of poets and heroes.
