Originally published in Puerto Rico in 1956 as
Los
derrotados, Cesar Andreu Iglesias's novel about a fateful
Nationalist assault on a U.S. military installation in Puerto Rico
is now available for the first time in English.
This tautly written story uncovers the personal histories of three
middle-aged revolutionaries as they plan to kill a U.S. general.
Andreu's cool treatment of their political objectives does not
obscure his compassionate recognition of their human limitations.
Andreu makes clear his view that the Nationalist answer to Puerto
Rico's problems had become an anachronism and that by the 1950s the
union movement was better prepared to deal with the changes that
industrial capitalism was thrusting upon the Puerto Rican people
and their way of life. The afterword by Arcadio Diaz-Quinones
provides a rich historical and literary context for
The
Vanquished.