José Alvarez was born in Antilla, Cuba, in 1940. He came to the United States in 1969. After graduating with a Ph.D. in Food and Resource Economics at the University of Florida, he remained in its faculty until his retirement in 2004, where he was appointed Professor Emeritus. During his academic career, he was a prolific writer, and some of his books are shown in this Author Central. Dr. Alvarez started a research project more than twenty years ago, calling it "Rethinking the Cuban Rebellion of 1952-1959" with the purpose of examining closely the events that brought Fidel Castro to absolute power in Cuba in 1959. He played an active role in the rebellion at an early age. More information can be obtained at http://josepepinalvarez.com. The three books resulting from that project have already won five book awards, and are also shown herein.