This work The History of Cuba Vol. 1 is the first of four by Willis Fletcher Johnson. Johnson was a journalist rather than a historian but he consulted and referred to many primary sources in this work. While I found it readable, especially considering his early 20th century style, it had points where it dragged too. At some points it read like a listing of the sequence of frequently changed Spanish colonial officials. Not quite as dull as the reciting of generations in the Old Testament but not the most interesting part. In other parts I was fascinated. Johnson connected events in Europe with the history of Cuba and the other colonial holdings. He description of the development of the tobacco and sugar industries was well done. The horrible treatment of the native people by the Spanish was not neglected or made light of. However he described the treatment of African slaves as genial and benign. I have seen the plaza in Santiago de Cuba where disobedient slaves were hanged in public. It was hardly so benign. I found Vol. 1 interesting enough that I have downloaded Vol. 2 from Gutenberg Project. ( )