Eduardo Santiago
Informative... at times. But also disjointed, rambling, unclear at times. I did learn: material I never learned in school, and a good bit of filling-in since my departure forty years ago. Overall, though, it was difficult reading in several respects. His timelines meander, making it hard to keep track of track who-what-when. His math is iffy, mixing absolutes and percentages in ways that make little sense ("annual gross national product fell from 7 percent in the 1960s to 2.1 percent in the 1980s" ???). And the wrap-up felt rushed, sloppy.
I did like his focus on social movements and the actors responsible, and on the impact of corruption, cruelty, prejudice, war, and greed on the less powerful populace. So many horrors over so many centuries. Melendez Badillo has a good heart. I do fear that it might blind him to (what I've perceived as) actual problems with puertorican culture: religiosity, willful ignorance, entitlement. (Sound familiar, post-2024 US friends?) Still, his preaching was mostly on target and rarely over the top. I am thankful to have learned about good people who #resisted and still do.
Minor nit that irked me more than it should've: he only refers to PR as "the archipelago." Okay, kudos for including Vieques and Culebra, except he only really talks about them for 2-3 pages so he really just comes off as clumsily pedantic. "PR," "the country," even "la isla" which is what pretty much everyone calls it, would've felt more natural. Not a reason to reject the book, but, why??
[ Note: I read the English edition, because the Spanish one lists a translator credit and this one does not so I assume English is the original. ]
Informative... at times. But also disjointed, rambling, unclear at times. I did learn: material I never learned in school, and a good bit of filling-in since my departure forty years ago. Overall, though, it was difficult reading in several respects. His timelines meander, making it hard to keep track of track who-what-when. His math is iffy, mixing absolutes and percentages in ways that make little sense ("annual gross national product fell from 7 percent in the 1960s to 2.1 percent in the 1980s" ???). And the wrap-up felt rushed, sloppy.
I did like his focus on social movements and the actors responsible, and on the impact of corruption, cruelty, prejudice, war, and greed on the less powerful populace. So many horrors over so many centuries. Melendez Badillo has a good heart. I do fear that it might blind him to (what I've perceived as) actual problems with puertorican culture: religiosity, willful ignorance, entitlement. (Sound familiar, post-2024 US friends?) Still, his preaching was mostly on target and rarely over the top. I am thankful to have learned about good people who #resisted and still do.
Minor nit that irked me more than it should've: he only refers to PR as "the archipelago." Okay, kudos for including Vieques and Culebra, except he only really talks about them for 2-3 pages so he really just comes off as clumsily pedantic. "PR," "the country," even "la isla" which is what pretty much everyone calls it, would've felt more natural. Not a reason to reject the book, but, why??
[ Note: I read the English edition, because the Spanish one lists a translator credit and this one does not so I assume English is the original. ]