Cesar J. Ayala and Rafael Bemabe, Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History Since 1898 (Chapel Hill NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2007)

摘要

The authors of this work leave little doubt that they consider Puerto Rico 'an anomaly', 'an exceptional case', 'an exception to the rule', even 'doubly exceptional' (p. 1). It is a case of such 'complexity' and 'perplexity' that Puerto Rican (and, by extension, US) decision makers are seldom presented with anything other than cruel dilemmas. In addition, the authors argue, the stridency and partisanship of much of Puerto Rico's historiography over the past century have only added to the difficulty of unravelling the island's true past and the designing of its future. It is their decided intent to avoid such distortions. Their goal, they say, is to provide a more 'nuanced' interpretation of the historical record, albeit without making any concessions as to what they invariably regard as a hundred years of an asymmetrical 'colonial relationship'.