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This book examines a rarely studied yet crucial group of insurgents who fought for Cuban independence from Spain during the 19th century: rebel women known as mambisas . Coming from a wide variety of backgrounds--rich and poor, black and white, rural and urban, young and old--these women determinedly and passionately helped forge Cuba's new national identity. They wrote political pamphlets, carried military correspondence across enemy lines, raised money in New York and raised their families in rebel camps, served as nurses, and fought on the rebel army's front lines. In defeat or victory, imprisonment or exile, their stories are fascinating and compelling. nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Parallel to the evolution of the Cuban nationalist process, another social phenomenon was occurring--the growth of feminist consciousness. The rebel women's participation in the anticolonial struggle encouraged many of these women to question their role and position within their families and society. In a dramatic shift of cultural attitudes, many women began to view themselves as equal partners with men. nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; This is the first work that explores how women shaped the war and were in turn shaped by it. Mambisas puts a human face on the Cuban struggle for independence, while at the same time examining the connection between nationalism and feminism in 19th-century Cuba. nbsp; nbsp;

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CHOICE Review

The first three chapters do not really deal with Mambisas, who were nationalist warriors against Spain during the second half of the 19th century. The last five chapters, however, do offer convenient synopses of a number of Cuban women who struggled to overcome the limitations of class, position, and gender at a time when politics and war were major island preoccupations. Prados-Torreira (Columbia College, Chicago) adds little to general information on Mariana Grajales, Maria Cabrales, Ana Betancourt, Emilia Casanova, or Evangelina Cossio Cisneros. She includes less-familiar freedom fighters, such as Rosario Castellanos, Aurelia Castillo, Rita Suarez, Magdalena Penarredonda, Isabel Rubio, and Paulina Ruiz. Cuban society during the 19th century was highly volatile and extremely dynamic. The wealth and vigor of its slave society made the island an important player on the world stage. It would therefore have been most surprising if women, influenced by local circumstances, did not play an important role. Like all civil wars, the long Cuban war of independence proportioned suffering and sacrifice indiscriminately, and this account illustrates very well that women, like non-whites, failed to gain rewards commensurate with their contributions in the struggle. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. F. W. Knight Johns Hopkins University

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Teresa Prados-Torreira is professor of history and cultural studies at Columbia College, Chicago. She has published in Raritan, Revista Santiago, El Pais, and Historia 16 .