WELCOME
My name is Renata Keller and I am a history professor at the University of Nevada. I work on Modern Latin America and the Cold War. I also dabble in the history of the War on Drugs. I recently published The Fate of the Americas: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Hemispheric Cold War. This book is the first hemispheric history of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In it, I uncover the ways that people and governments across the Americas caused, participated in, and were affected by the crisis.
Thank you for stopping by!
About Me
I believe in the power of connection across time and space. What one person or group of people does in one place and time affects other people in different places and times in unexpected and profound ways.
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I specialize in Latin American and Cold War history. My second book, The Fate of the Americas: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Hemispheric Cold War (UNC Press, 2025), uncovers how people and governments across the Americas caused, participated in, and were affected by the Cuban Missile Crisis. My first book, Mexico’s Cold War: Cuba, the United States, and the Legacy of the Mexican Revolution (Cambridge, 2015), explored how the Cuban Revolution transformed Mexico’s domestic politics and international relations. It was awarded SECOLAS's Alfred B. Thomas Book Prize for the best book on a Latin American subject and honorable mentions for RMCLAS's Thomas McGann Book Prize in Modern Latin American History and Michael C. Meyer Award for the best book on Mexican History in a five-year period.
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I also co-produced and co-hosted an audiodocumentary podcast miniseries on the Cuban Missile Crisis sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Historical Association. Over the course of six hour-long episodes, my co-producer Dustin Walcher and I interviewed today’s leading experts on Cuban history and inter-American relations. Most listeners will probably already be familiar with the traditional story of Kennedy and Khrushchev going eyeball to eyeball, but these scholars helped us tell a new story that provides a critical Cuban and Latin American context for one of the most important events of modern history.
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I received my B.A. in History and Spanish from Arizona State University and my Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. I taught international relations at Boston University for five years before joining the History Department at the University of Nevada in 2017. I have published peer-reviewed journal articles in The Journal of Latin American Studies, The Journal of Cold War Studies, The Journal of Cold War History, The Latin American Research Review, Diplomatic History, Contexto Internacional, and Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, as well as public-facing articles in History Today and The Washington Post. My research has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Philanthropic Educational Organization, the Kluge Center at the U.S. Library of Congress, the American Philosophical Society, and other institutions. I am co-editor of InterConnections: The Global Twentieth Century, a new book series at UNC Press that is home to innovative global, international, and transregional histories of the long twentieth century.
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I am also a dedicated educator. I teach classes on modern Latin American history, Cuban history, the global Cold War, and drugs and security in the Americas. I enjoy training the next generation of thinkers, historians, and history teachers in my classes on historical research and writing, historiography, historiography of the Americas, and my graduate research seminar on twentieth-century history.
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In my free time, you can find me reading fantasy and sci-fi novels, watching soapy TV shows, gardening, cooking, and shuttling my two children between their excessive number of activities.
Books
"This gripping and rigorously researched book will forever change the way readers understand the missile crisis and the Cold War.”
—Ada Ferrer, author of Cuba: An American History
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Despite twenty-first-century fears of nuclear conflagrations with North Korea, Russia, and Iran, the Cuban Missile Crisis is the closest the United States has come to nuclear war. That history has largely been a bilateral narrative of the US-USSR struggle for postwar domination, with Cuba as the central staging ground—a standard account that obscures the shock waves that reverberated throughout Latin America. This first hemispheric examination of the Cuban Missile Crisis shows how leaders and ordinary citizens throughout the region experienced it, revealing that, had the missiles been activated, millions of people across Latin America would have been at grave risk.
Traversing the region from the Southern Cone to Central America, Renata Keller describes the deadly riots that shook Bolivia when news of the Cuban Missile Crisis broke, the naval quarantine that members of Argentina’s armed forces formed around Cuba, the pro-Castro demonstrations organized by Nicaraguan students, and much more. Drawing on a vast array of archival sources from around the hemisphere and world, The Fate of the Americas demonstrates that even at the brink of destruction, Latin Americans played active roles in global politics and inter-American relations.
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Advance praise for The Fate of the Americas
“Despite all the many books (and movies) about the singular event we call the Cuban Missile Crisis, no one has told that history as a hemispheric one—until now. Keller’s brilliant book eschews a bilateral approach focused on the two superpowers and even a trilateral one that encompasses Cuba. This gripping and rigorously researched book will forever change the way readers understand the missile crisis and the Cold War.”
—Ada Ferrer, author of Cuba: An American History
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“This outstanding work completely transforms our understanding of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Keller’s gripping narrative moves expertly from tense negotiations behind closed doors in Washington and Havana to explosive street protests in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.”
—Michelle Chase, author of Revolution within the Revolution: Women and Gender Politics in Cuba, 1952–1962
“Keller broadens our perspective on the Cuban Missile Crisis by examining Latin Americans before, during, and after the US discovery of missiles on that communist island. Everyone concerned about international relations should read this book.”
—Alan McPherson, author of The Breach: Iran-Contra and the Assault on American Democracy.​​​
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Order direct from UNC Press with a 30% discount! Use code 01UNCP30.
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This book is a history of the Cold War in Mexico, and Mexico in the Cold War. Renata Keller draws on declassified Mexican and US intelligence sources and Cuban diplomatic records to challenge earlier interpretations that depicted Mexico as a peaceful haven and a weak neighbor forced to submit to US pressure. Mexico did in fact suffer from the political and social turbulence that characterized the Cold War era in general, and by maintaining relations with Cuba it played a unique, and heretofore overlooked, role in the hemispheric Cold War. The Cuban Revolution was an especially destabilizing force in Mexico because Fidel Castro's dedication to many of the same nationalist and populist causes that the Mexican revolutionaries had originally pursued in the early twentieth century called attention to the fact that the government had abandoned those promises. A dynamic combination of domestic and international pressures thus initiated Mexico's Cold War and shaped its distinct evolution and outcomes
Awards
Winner, 2016 SECOLAS Alfred B. Thomas Book Prize for best book on Latin America
Honorable Mention, 2016 RMCLAS Thomas McGann Book Prize in Modern Latin American History
Special Commendation, 2018 RMCLAS Michael C. Meyer Award for Best Book on Mexican History in a 5-year Period
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Praise
"This important book is a landmark study on Mexico and Cuba and the Cold War. Using an innovative selection of official and grassroots sources as well as previously unavailable Cuban government materials, Keller weaves a fascinating and complex account of how debates over the legacy of the Mexican Revolution shaped Mexico's engagement with the Cuban Revolution and the United States as well as reconfigured Mexican domestic politics. Students of Mexican, Cuban, and inter-American politics and history will find it invaluable."
—Barry Carr, LaTrobe University, Australia
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"At once a history of the Cold War in Mexico and Cuba within the wider global conflict, Renata Keller's engrossing study sets high standards for integrating Latin American history and international relations scholarship. In the process it fleshes out Mexico's distinctive Cold War history at multiple levels of analysis, decoding the nation's complicated, seemingly contradictory relationship with both Fidel Castro's Cuba and the hemisphere's powerful hegemon to the north. Mexico's Cold War also provides an important optic for understanding the powerful legacy of Mexico's twentieth-century revolution."
—Gilbert M. Joseph, Yale University
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"This book makes significant contributions to diplomatic history, Cold War studies, and Mexican history. It delivers an engaging narrative that digs deeply into intelligence and diplomatic archives to craft a fascinating story of how the 1959 Cuban Revolution and international aspects of the Cold War shaped domestic politics in 1960s Mexico … This book is certainly a must-read in diplomatic history, Cold War Studies, and the history of twentieth-century Mexico. It is engaging, insightful, and opens new research inquiries in a number of areas."
—Julio E. Moreno, Diplomatic History
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"Keller’s most significant achievement is her careful research into several newly declassified records, particularly those of the Dirección Federal de Seguridad. Her study sheds new light on the particulars of how government authorities in Mexico construed and depicted local and national struggles as part of an international 'communist' campaign to disrupt stability … Keller’s study provides innumerable insights and should be required reading for specialists of modern Mexico and the Cold War. Its concise and accessible style makes it ideal for use in undergraduate courses."
—Steven J. Bachelor, The American Historical Review
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"In this deeply researched monograph, Renata Keller has provided the most detailed view yet of how the Cuban Revolution affected Mexico’s internal and external affairs during the 1960s and beyond."
—Aaron W. Navarro, Hispanic American Historical Review
Other Academic Writing
​“Responsibility of the Great Ones: How the Organization of American States and the United Nations Helped Resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Journal of Latin American Studies 51:4 (November 2019), 883-904
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“The Revolution Will Be Teletyped: Cuba’s Prensa Latina News Agency and the Cold War Contest Over Information,” Journal of Cold War Studies 21, no. 3 (Summer 2019), 88-113
Honorable Mention, 2020 SECOLAS Sturgis Leavitt Award for Best Article
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“Testing the Limits of Censorship? Política Magazine and Mexico’s ‘Perfect Dictatorship,’ 1960-1967,” in Journalism, Censorship, and Satire in Mexico, ed. Benjamin Smith, Paul Gillingham, and Michael Lettieri (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2019), 221-235
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“Fan Mail to Fidel: The Cuban Revolution and Mexican Solidarity,” Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos 33, no. 1 (February 2017), 6-31
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“U.S.-Mexican Relations from Independence to the Present,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History (March 2016)
“The Latin American Missile Crisis,” Diplomatic History 39:2 (April 2015), 195-222
Winner, 2016 NECLAS Joseph T. Criscenti Best Article Prize
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“Building ‘Nuestra América:’ National Sovereignty and Regional Integration in the Americas,” Contexto Internacional, 35, no. 2 (2013), 537-564​
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“Don Lázaro Rises Again: Heated Rhetoric, Cold Warfare, and the 1961 Latin American Peace Conference” in Beyond the Eagle’s Shadow: New Histories of Latin America’s Cold War, ed. Virginia Garrard-Burnett, Mark Lawrence, and Julio Moreno (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2013), 129-149
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“A Foreign Policy for Domestic Consumption: Mexico’s Lukewarm Defense of Castro, 1959-1969,” The Latin American Research Review 47, no. 2 (Summer 2012), 100-119
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“The Martyrdom of Monseñor Angelelli: The Popular Creation of Martyrs in Twentieth-Century Argentina,” The Journal of Religion & Society, 12 (2010)​
Public Writing and Media
Public Writing
"Latin America and the Cuban Missile Crisis," Process: A Blog for American History, Organization of American Historians (October 7, 2025)
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“Rockets Here, In Our Pretty Little Cuba: The View from the Epicenter of the Cuban Missile Crisis,” History Today, 72: 10 (October 2022), 28-41​
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“Stamps, Rum, and Hand Grenades: Fidel Castro’s Recipe for Revolution,” Wilson Center Cold War International History Project e-Dossier, No. 66 (September 29, 2015)​
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Op-Eds
"A Key Lesson of the Cuban Missile Crisis? The U.S. Needs Allies," Time Magazine, October 28, 2025
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"The Lost History of Latin America's Role in Averting Catastrophe During the Cuban Missile Crisis," The Conversation, October 24, 2025
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“The Cuban Missile Crisis Offers Lessons for Diplomacy Today—If We Listen,” co-authored with Michelle Paranzino, The Washington Post, October 22, 2022​
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“From One Disaster to Another? Mexico’s Cold War and the War on Drugs,” North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) Blog, March 22, 2016​
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“Mexico: From Cold War to Drug War,” The Strategy Bridge (September 30, 2015), reposted in The National Interest, October 1, 2015
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Podcasts
Interview, "US-Latin America Relations," This is Democracy (November 13, 2025)
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Interview, "What if the Cuban Missile Crisis Sparked WW3?" American History Hit (October 21, 2025)
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Co-Producer, “SECOLAS Presents: The Cuban Missile Crisis, An Audiodocumentary,” 6-part podcast miniseries sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Historical Association, released October 2025
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Interview, "13 Days, The Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Fate of the Americas with Renata Keller," Reckoning with Jason Herbert/Historians at the Movies (October 16, 2025)
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Interview, “Frenemies: Mexico & the USA, a History,” American History Hit podcast (June 2, 2025)
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Interview, "Historias 44: Renata Keller on Mexico’s Cold War and an Inter-American History of the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies podcast (April 8, 2019)
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Interview, “Historias 28: Tanya Harmer and Renata Keller on Latin America’s Cold War,” Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies podcast (November 5, 2018)
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Interview, “Mexico’s Cold War: Cuba, the United States, and the Legacy of the Mexican Revolution,” New Books in Latin American Studies podcast (February 7, 2016)
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Videos
Conversatorio Cubano with Dr. Renata Keller on the Cuban Missile Crisis​
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AHA Congressional Briefing: History of US Military Alliances​
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Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA)
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About The Fate of the Americas​
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Expert Opinions
Quoted in “Boat Strikes Off Venezuela Mark Shift in 54-Year US War on Drugs,” The Christian Science Monitor (November 19, 2025)
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Quoted in “Fidel Castro, Prensa Latina, and information,” Prensa Latina (April 17, 2023)
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Quoted in “Prensa Latina sobrevivió, aseguró investigadora de Estados Unidos,” Prensa Latina (April 13, 2023)
Quoted in “Explosion at Hotel in Cuba Kills Nine,” New York Times (May 6, 2022)
Quoted in “With Us Or With Them? In a New Cold War, How About Neither,” New York Times (April 24, 2022)
Quoted in “Fidel Castro’s Passing Opens Possibilities for U.S.” Boston Herald (November 27, 2016)
Interview, “Cold War Expert Sees Parallels in Mexico’s Drug War Struggles,” InSight Crime (January 29, 2016)
Quoted in “Chile’s Bachelet Changes Tack With New Cabinet Amid Crisis,” The New York Times (May 7, 2015)
Interview, “A Historical Perspective on the U.S.-Cuba Relationship,” Insights: Scholarly Work at the John W. Kluge Center (December 19, 2014)
Interview, “End of U.S. Isolation Toward Cuba ‘Really Promising,’ Says Expert,” Radio France Internationale (December 17, 2014)
Interview, “Drug Cartel Chaos in Mexico,” NECN television show Broadside: The News with Jim Braude (November 17, 2014)
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Quoted in “Is the New Pope Latino?” CNN.com (March 15, 2013)
Events
Here is a list of my upcoming book talks! I'd love to see you there. ​
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October 27, 2025: Ohio State University
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October 29, 2025: Temple University
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October 30, 2025: Rowan University
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November 14, 2025: University of Notre Dame
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November 20, 2025 University of Nevada, Reno
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February 18-19: Colegio de México​
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March 14-15: Tucson Festival of Books
