Oriente ‘has exercised a magnetic pull on the imagination of those elsewhere in the country and outside the country’ (p. 1). Peter Hulme's book, Cuba's Wild East: A Literary Geography of Oriente, provides a necessary analysis of the literature produced on this understudied region. By shifting focus away from Havana and towards ‘Cuba's wild east’, Hulme illustrates how Oriente has been perceived, interpreted and reinterpreted since Cuba's colonial period.

Exemplifying the region as ‘the birthplace of many revolutionary protagonists’, Hulme focuses on how these ‘oriental’ spaces became places of encounter. By focusing primarily on non-Cuban writers who visited the island, but also some Cuban writers, he draws on an extensive and impressive amount of sources to demonstrate how Oriente served as a place of contact between Cuba and the United States. For example, he utilises over 25 pieces including, but not limited to, historical novels, political speeches and travel writing. Although he could have easily focused on several key encounters such as the ones between Herbert Matthews and Fidel Castro, Hulme brings to light other, less mentioned encounters, primarily those between nineteenth-century mambises and US journalists. In one chapter he describes the climactic encounter of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and James O'Kelly, author of The Mambi-Land (1874). As he determines why O'Kelly was predisposed to dislike Havana, Hulme presents an extensive amount of detail to allow a reader unfamiliar with O'Kelly's work to understand the significance of the work and the encounters within the text.

Hulme also illustrates how the United States’ global ambitions were articulated in Oriente. In his writing on the encounters, he illustrates how Oriente served as a meeting place for the two Cubas: one Spanish, and the other free Cuba (or Mambi-land). Hulme draws on various dichotomies in Cuban history to elaborate further the differences between both sides of the island. These dichotomies include, but are not limited to, Havana and the countryside as well as Spanish Cuba and free Cuba.

Hulme further demonstrates the comparisons between Cuban revolutionaries in Oriente, including Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, José Martí and Fidel Castro. In doing so, he traces the emergence not just of the term criollo but also of the sympathies that could be construed as criollista (those born in Cuba). He then demonstrates how writers develop the theme of lo cubano (the Cuban). Starting with Martí, Hulme determines the three strands in the former's writing, ‘the national theme, the indigenous theme, and the topographical theme’, which over time changed, merged or diminished (p. 79).

Hulme provides a spectacular analysis of the different literature produced during the Cuban wars of independence. In doing so, he examines who the writers were, their respective audiences and how each writer's experience on the island varied. His extensive use of block quotes and summarising of the books allows readers not fluent with the literature not only to understand his argument but also to see the value of these sources. In analysing the different types of literature produced during the Cuban wars of independence, Hulme addresses specifics such as the focus on Oriente and the evolving forms of literature that emerged, such as journalism, memoirs and the ‘futuristic romances aimed at younger readers’ (p. 171).

Hulme draws particular attention to one novel, The Single Star by Walter Adolphe Roberts (Bobbs-Merrill, 1949). In summarising the story, Hulme elaborates on the common theme of a non-Cuban playing a ‘significant role in the Cuban insurgency’ (p. 261). Similarly, most of the literature that Hulme utilises was written by outsiders – that is, non-Cubans. In focusing on this form of literature, Hulme provides a fundamental study on how Oriente has been analysed, interpreted and reinterpreted by those on and off the island. However, in focusing mainly on this literature, the book begs the question of whether there is a lack of sources produced within the island by Cubans on Oriente.

There are also interesting points on which Hulme draws but fails to elaborate. For example, in Chapter 4 he provides a condensed synopsis of the Platt Amendment and describes its subsequent acceptance. In doing so, he notes a little-known fact – namely, that nine of the 11 Cuban delegates who rejected the Platt Amendment were from Oriente. This begs the question of what motivated these delegates to reject the Amendment. Hulme unfortunately moves away from this train of thought, however, focusing instead on the US agenda leading up to the Amendment. Although no work is meant to be all-encompassing, Hulme's drawing attention to this fact leaves the reader with the lingering question as to whether there were underlying tensions that could have been examined.

Even though Hulme does a spectacular job, this long work would be a difficult assignment for an undergraduate class. Assigned for graduate students, however, the book will provide for a fruitful discussion. Although he claims to give equal attention to Cuban and non-Cuban writers, Hulme's lens is primarily through non-Cuban eyes. This monumental work thus brings together literature, memoirs and archival materials to illustrate the different perceptions of Oriente. Hulme also contributes to the growing body of literature on Oriente and further integrates this place of encounter into various historiographies.