Introduction : mass tourism, empire, and soft power -- Lone eagles and revolutionaries : the U.S.-Mexican rapprochement of the 1920s -- Containment and good neighbors : tourism and empire in 1930s Mexico -- The safe bet : Batista's Cuba -- Paradise lost : Castro's Cuba -- Bootstraps, beaches, and cobblestone : commonwealth Puerto Rico -- A Cold War mirage : Puerto Rico in the 1960s and 1970s
Summary
In his examination of interwar Mexico, early Cold War Cuba, and Puerto Rico during the Alliance for Progress, Merrill demonstrates how tourists and the international travel industry facilitated the expansion of U.S. consumer and cultural power in Latin America. He also shows the many ways in which local service workers, labor unions, business interests, and host governments vied to manage the Yankee invasion. Highlighting the everyday realities of U.S. empire in ways often overlooked, Merrill's analysis provides historical context for understanding the contemporary debate over the costs and be
