Citizenship and the American Empire

I (used to) consider myself moderately well informed on the Insular Cases and the Jones Act... oh, how ignorant I was. What Cabranes does here is offer their context, exquisitely distilled from the Congressional record and other writings: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly — and lots of each one. Informative, well researched and referenced, and delightfully readable, accessible even to this layperson.

If you're reading this review it's because you have some interest in PR's colonial history. I can guarantee that you will learn from it: material you might not know about the U.S.'s relationship with Cuba and the Philippines and even the Dominican Republic; about the complex and changing political context in the U.S., 1898-1917; about the faces of racism and antiracism back then. I can't say that I learned something on every page, but pretty darn close, and it was a real pleasure to read all the way through.

Oh, and yes, still relevant in 2021, almost fifty years after it was written. (Possible spoiler: Puerto Rico did not gain statehood in 1976. Cabranes, I‘m sure, was not surprised). Original intent was to rate four stars, bumping up to five because I've just re-skimmed through it and damn, can he write.