Insularismo: An Insight into the Puerto
Rican Character by Antonio S. Pedreira
Foreword by Nicolas Kanellos, Ph.D
Translated by Aoife Rivera Serrano.
With new index & bibliography
ISBN: 1-932982-40-X.
Softcover. $19.95
Out Of Print |  |
Seventy-four years overdue, this Latin American classic is the first book to examine the psychological effects of Spanish and U.S. imperialism on Puerto Ricans.
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Is the Puerto Rican character itself a determining factor in the island’s ambiguous political relationship with the United States? The answer to this question and others reflecting the power of history, culture, geography and race impelled Antonio Pedreira to write the book that is still considered one the most controversial and important works ever written about the Puerto Rican experience.
Still relevant, Pedreira’s book opens up the Pandora’s box that had remained sealed to those who did not have an advanced grasp of the Spanish language. It will help the history buff, social worker and general interest reader alike better understand the historical background, as interpreted by Pedreira, of the Latin Americans who constituted the first great wave of Spanish-speaking immigrants to the eastern United States.
| Antonio S. Pedreira (1899-1939) was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. A prolific writer, social critic and educator, he remains the most frequently cited author in any analysis regarding the ethos of the Caribbean island nation. |
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| “There has never been a more influential book…on Puerto Rican culture…The mature product of the rapid political and cultural changes experienced by Puerto Ricans as they passed from one colonial master to another in the early twentieth century…this first and only translation of Insularismo will…spark new debates as to Puerto Rican identity.”
— Nicolás Kanellos, University of Houston
“Translations of work…when the educated elite of Puerto Rico began to argue issues still debated today are especially necessary in order to negotiate, as Aoife Rivera Serrano notes, their sometimes ‘rococo’ Spanish…Rivera Serrano’s translation of Insularismo is a necessary step in a ‘recovery’ of Puerto Rican letters for those living on the mainland.”
—Tace Hedrick, University of Florida
“…a canonical text…Aoife Rivera Serrano’s translation is an important contribution to what should be an ongoing debate, not just on Puerto Rican politics and culture but also on the culture and politics of our hemisphere.”
— Oscar Montero, The Graduate Center of The City University of New York
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