In ADRIFT, Alfredo A. Fernandez recounts the saga of the 1994 refugees, tracing the origin of the crisis to the pervasive turmoil produced in Cuba by the 1989-1991 collapse of the USSR and the resulting cut-off of Soviet economic subsidies. During this period, U.S. immigration policy flip-flopped, making the journey to American life for Cubans ever more precarious. In tracking 1994's crisis through ensuing years of global political fallout, Fernandez presents a compelling international gallery of heroes, rogues, survivors, diplomats, and traitors.