Book Reviews

Wagenheim, Kal and Jimenez de Wagenheim, Olga (eds.) (2008) The Puerto Ricans:A Documentary History, Marcus Weiner Publishers (Princeton, NJ), ix + 359 pp.$28.95 pbk.

This book offers a sweeping overview of roughly 500 years of Puerto Rican historythrough documents that have been carefully and skilfully chosen by two specialists inthe field. The authors have organised the book into ten sections, based on chronologicaland thematic divisions. The book begins with the Tainos, the original inhabitants of theisland, and ends with several articles from 2006 and 2007 that discuss legislation onPuerto Rico’s political status. The early periods of Puerto Rican history, from the yearsof the Taino inhabitation through the Spanish conquest and colonialism, receive far lessattention than does the period from 1898, when the United States began to colonisePuerto Rico, to the present. The editors begin each section with a helpful and conciseintroduction that contextualises the documents that follow; they have also included abrief explanation of each document. The result is a clear and compelling book thatallows the reader to develop both a general sense of the key events that have shapedthe last 500 years of Puerto Rican history as well as an in-depth appreciation of theprocesses and debates that defined them.

Many of the documents reflect the political, economic and social issues that havedefined Puerto Rican history. The first three sections discuss Taino culture, the methodsand goals of Spanish political and economic domination of the island, the diversepopulations in the island and the labour systems the Spaniards imposed. They alsodocument different forms of resistance to Spanish colonialism, such as the drive to endslavery and to become an independent nation. The remaining seven sections explore

© 2011 The Authors. Bulletin of Latin American Research © 2011 Society for Latin American Studies522 Bulletin of Latin American Research Vol. 30, No. 4

Book Reviews

the impact of US colonialism on the island, the ongoing and contentious debatesregarding the status of Puerto Rico and many of the key (male) political figures thathave dominated the nation’s political life throughout the twentieth century, such asLuis Munoz Marín and Pedro Albizu Campos. Since roughly one half of the PuertoRican population now lives on the mainland, many documents discuss the conditionsthat Puerto Ricans in New York and Chicago lived in, the jobs they held, the politicalstruggles they engaged in and the culture they produced.

Through the documents we hear a wide range of voices writing about Puerto Rico:a Catalonian friar talking about the Taino way of life; Ramon Emeterio Betances’(presumed) call to arms against Spain; General Nelson’s proclamation to the peopleof Puerto Rico after the USA seized the island; Theodore Roosevelt’s statement tothe US Congress arguing that Puerto Ricans should be ‘granted’ citizenship; articlesfrom various US journalists and officials describing Puerto Rico to a North Americanaudience; Albizu Campos’s denunciation of US colonialism; a Puerto Rican man’s vividdescription about how difficult life in New York City was for him (he and his brothershared one pair of work pants, so they worked alternate shifts); an excerpt from PiriThomas’s Down These Mean Streets; and an article on the ultimately successful effortsof the people of Vieques and Puerto Rico to stop the US Navy from using the formerisland for target practice. The variety of speakers presented in this book allows thereader to grasp how complex and conflicting the history of Puerto Rico, or of anynation for that matter, is. The editors are to be commended for their deep knowledgeand creative use of sources.

There are, however, some ways that I think the book can be improved. First, most ofthe voices in the book are those of men. There are many Puerto Rican women who havewritten or have been written about whose insights would enrich this book. Second, someof the introductions to the documents themselves need to be updated. For example, theintroduction to the selection by Juan Antonio Corretjer talks about the famous poetand political leader as if he were still alive, when, in fact, he died in 1985. Third, itwould be helpful to cite the source of each document immediately before the document,not at the foot of a page that sometimes precedes the document itself. Fourth, the bookneeds to include documents on the issue of Puerto Rican political prisoners, since thestruggles to free the Nationalist prisoners or the FALN prisoners were central to PuertoRican politics during the latter half of the twentieth century.

These suggestions do not in any way detract from the wonderful documents thatthe editors have assembled and the enormous contributions that this book makes toillustrating the richness of Puerto Rican history.

Margaret PowerIllinois Institute of Technology

© 2011 The Authors. Bulletin of Latin American Research © 2011 Society for Latin American StudiesBulletin of Latin American Research Vol. 30, No. 4 523