Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History

by Arturo Morales Carrión

The people of Puerto Rico today are caught in a centuries-old dilemma of identity.

In this non-partisan text, Arturo Morales Carrión discusses the island's social, institutional, and cultural evolution and provides a historical perspective on all political positions.

Attention to problems related to the Puerto Rican search for identity makes this a book of special interest to Americans and Puerto Ricans alike. "Understanding the island," says the author, "involves transcending the confines of American nationalism in an effort at empathy and insight. Only through mutual understanding and respect will the United States and Puerto Rico face with hope and creativity the many baffling and thorny issues of the present."

Genres: History, Nonfiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1983

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

For most Americans today, Puerto Rico is an afterthought, a remnant of a strategic vision of which they are reminded only when disaster causes it to flare up momentarily onto their collective consciousness. Yet for the Puerto Ricans themselves, this is a disappointingly familiar reflection of their historical experience of the last five centuries. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in Arturo Morales Carrión's masterful survey of the island's long and troubled history. Written in collaboration with four area specialists who contribute chapters on the Spanish colonial era and Puerto Rican culture, it conveys the long experience of domination by outside powers and the efforts by Puerto Ricans to exert some degree of control over their own destinies. Though nearly four decades old it still rewards reading thanks to the excellent overview it provides of Puerto Rico's development and relationship with the outside powers that controlled it, and is strongly recommended for anyone seeking to better understand this unjustly overlooked part of our nation.

[Barry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Looking for a readable general history? This isn't it. Long on academic jargon, recitations of economic statistics and rosters of colonial officials--important and otherwise--for a "cultural history," this book is sadly short of narrative interest and completely lacking insight into the lives and culture of common people.

[Michael McGrath · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not quite the book I was seeking. The first part is interesting with an overview about the indigenous Tainos, and the first colonial waves of the Spaniards, but this is short-lived and the book soon spirals downward into something that reads like a dry inventory of dates and stats, with little to no narrative flow. I found myself drudging and skimming, catching a nugget here and there.