Robert M. Levine was an American historian, Gabelli Senior Scholar in the Arts and Sciences, Director of Latin American Studies, and professor of history at the University of Miami

University of Miami

The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...

.

His interests were related to Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

, in particular, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian cultural and political history, Jewish diaspora

Jewish diaspora

The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....

s in Latin America, Cuban history, and Latin American history in general.

Biography

He was born to David and Ruth Levine and grew up in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. After graduating with High Honors from Colgate University

Colgate University

Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...

, he obtained his Ph.D. from Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

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Prof. Levine died of cancer, leaving behind his two sons, Joey and David.

Books

• 1970: The Vargas Regime: The Critical Years, 1934-1938 (from Ph.D. thesis)
• 1980: Portuguese translation: O regime de Vargas, nonfiction best-seller for 12 weeks
• 1995: Vale of Tears: The Canudos Massacre in Northeast Brazil Revisited
• 1989: Images ofHistory: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Latin American Photographs as Documents
• 1990: Cuba in the 1850's: Through the Lens of Charles DeForest Fredricks
• 1994: Tropical Diaspora: the Jewish Experience in Cuba, 1902-1992
• 1994: (with Jose Carlos Sebe) Cinderela Negra: A Saga de Carolina Maria de Jesus
• 1995: (with Jose Carlos Sebe) The Life and Death of Carolina Maria de Jesus
• 1997: Brazilian Legacies
• 1998: Father of the Poor? Getulio Vargas
  Getúlio Vargas
  Getúlio Dornelles Vargas served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history to Emperor Pedro II...
  
   and His Era
• 1999:The History of Brazil (nonacademic; for general audience)
• 2000: (with Moises Asis) Cuban Miami
• 2001: Secret Missions to Cuba: Fidel Castro
  Fidel Castro
  Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
  
  , Bernardo Benes
  Bernardo Benes
  Dr. Bernardo Benes Baikowitz is a prominent Jewish Cuban lawyer, banker, journalist and civic leader, who was responsible for freeing 3,600 Cuban political prisoners in 1978....
  
  , and Cuban Miami
• Cambridge Concise History of Cuba, left as manuscript; posthumously revisited by prof. Frank Mora