Are all immigrants from the same home country best understood as a homogeneous group of foreign-born? Or do they differ in their adaptation and transnational ties depending on when they emigrated and with what lived experiences? Between Castro's rise to power in 1959 and the early twenty-first century more than a million Cubans immigrated to the United States. While it is widely known that Cuban émigrés have exerted a strong hold on Washington policy toward their homeland, Eckstein uncovers a fascinating paradox: the recent arrivals, although poor and politically weak, have done more to transform their homeland than the influential and prosperous early exiles who have tried for half a century to bring the Castro regime to heel. The impact of the so-called New Cubans is an unintended consequence of the personal ties they maintain with family in Cuba, ties the first arrivals oppose.

Introduction 1. Immigrants and the Weight of Their Past 2. Immigrant Imprint in America 3. Politics for Whom and for What? 4. The Personal is Political: Bonding across Borders 5. Cuba Through the Looking Glass 6. Transforming Transnational Ties into Economic Worth 7. Dollarization and Its Discontents: Homeland Impact of Diaspora Generosity 8. Reenvisioning Immigration Appendix I: Field Research