Offering a comprehensive overview of Puerto Rico's history and
evolution since the installation of U.S. rule, Cesar Ayala and
Rafael Bernabe connect the island's economic, political, cultural,
and social past.
Puerto Rico in the American Century
explores Puerto Ricans in the diaspora as well as the island
residents, who experience an unusual and daily conundrum: they
consider themselves a distinct people but are part of the American
political system; they have U.S. citizenship but are not
represented in the U.S. Congress; and they live on land that is
neither independent nor part of the United States.
Highlighting both well-known and forgotten figures from Puerto
Rican history, Ayala and Bernabe discuss a wide range of topics,
including literary and cultural debates and social and labor
struggles that previous histories have neglected. Although the
island's political economy remains dependent on the United States,
the authors also discuss Puerto Rico's situation in light of world
economies. Ayala and Bernabe argue that the inability of Puerto
Rico to shake its colonial legacy reveals the limits of free-market
capitalism, a break from which would require a renewal of the long
tradition of labor and social activism in Puerto Rico in connection
with similar currents in the United States.