Employing oral histories to flesh out the economic, political, and cultural facts of this Caribbean frontier, McManus interviewed residents from all periods of the island's immigration and development: American settlement during the first quarter of the century; Japanese, Jamaican, and Cayman Island immigration during the second quarter; and its radical transformation, after 1960, by the presence of thousands of young Cubans from the main island who became its permanent residents and were joined, temporarily, by students from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Her interviews describe life on the island as remembered by both immigrants and natives -- from pirates, soldiers, and planters to housekeepers, fishermen, and students -- and include testimony from the last American on the island.

As a resident of Cuba, McManus enjoyed extraordinary access to Cuban archives and to both published and unpublished historical materials. Her documentary sources are augmented by access to government officials as well as family narratives and personal diaries. Drawing upon resources unavailable to most scholars outside Cuba, she has written an evocative history that captures the dreams of this island's history and the identity of its people.