Customer Reviews

Puerto Rico: An Interpretive History from Precolumbian Times to 1900

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The author's love of the island is obvious by reading this book. She does a great job of describing the island itself, the original inhabitants and the Europeans which came later. It's interesting to note that many books are written of the time after the US obtained the island (1898 to present) but the author focuses on the Taino's and the time of Spain's control of the island. Great book!

"Informative, comprehensive, and written in accessible style . . ."
-El Nuevo Dia (Puerto Rico's largest daily newspaper)

". . .a work of substantive scholarship and meticulous research that provides a much needed balance to traditional histories that understate (or all too often simply ignore) the role indigenous natives and imported Africans played in developing this Caribbean nation . . ."
--Midwest Book Review, April 1999

"This work is an excellent example of a new trend in Puerto Rican historiography seeking to present a more balanced account of our past. It contains a detailed analysis of Puerto Rican society during the Spanish colonial period that highlights the roles and contributions of women and workers. The section on women, based on the latest historical investigations, provides an account of women revolutionary leaders, the movement to educate women, and of the first feminist attempts at emancipation from male patriarchy."
--Altagracia Ortiz, John Jay College; author of Eighteenth-Century Reform in the Caribbean

There is much too little historical literature available on Puerto Rico and as such, Olga Jimenez De Wagenheim's book on the history of Puerto Rico is very much welcomed.

"Puerto Rico: An Interpretive History from Precolumbia Times to 1900" gives the reader not only the physical and geographical description of Puerto Rico and its surrounding, smaller, islands, but also an idea of the many facets that make the island what it is today. Wagenheim covers the culture, politics, economics, religious beliefs, traditions, education, racial and gender prejudices, and much more. She discusses the original inhabitants of Boriquen -the Archaic, Igneri, Ostioniod and the Taino tribes- and their way of life before Spain's conquest of the Island.

Wagenheim depicts Puerto Rico as the lush and beautiful island that it was, its people farming and cultivating a variety of foods, such as, yucca, corn, yam, ajies (chili peppers), peanuts, guavas, jobos (grapes), and papaya. . . . The Taino people grew tobacco, hunted iguanas and cories and raised chickens and turkeys for food. This is why Spain renamed Boriquen, Puerto Rico (Rich Port).

Wagenheim does a superb job of describing the multi-cultural environment that shaped the Puerto Rican identity and their struggles under Spanish rule, and Puerto Rico's forced colonization under the United States after the Spanish-American War. She also depicts what life was like in Puerto Rico's society and how they endured their oppression under United States' rule: their loss of power and the right to govern themselves, the lack of education and employment, and the lack of support (especially economic) during their hardships, just to name a few. She also describes some of the heroes of Puerto Rico, heroes of the struggle for independence, education, equality, and humanity.

As the publisher states, there is little historical information, or evidence available about this early period in Puerto Rico's history. Taking this under consideration, the author has done a marvelous job of research and documentation. Her writing opens the historical doors, giving the reader a peek at a place we know too little about, Puerto Rico. I earnestly recommend "Puerto Rico: An Interpretive History from Precolumbia Times to 1900".

This is a fine history book covering the pre-Colombian period to the early 1900s.
Descriptive and factual, this volume provides insight into 400 plus years of history of a small but richly endowed island.

Inhabited by peaceful Taino Indians, they were doing well enough by themselves but were quickly scooped up by Spanish ambitions. Most were worked to death. That was their reward for being gracious and helpful to the earliest Spanairds. To replace their cheap labor the Spanish imported slaves from Africa.

Years would pass and Puerto Rico would always be treated as an insignificant faraway colony which existed only for the benefit of La Madre Patria, Imperial Spain.

Yet a nation was created by hard working Jibaros and city folk who developed a tradition of honesty and dependability. They forged forward just as they do today.

Professor Wagenheim has written a sensitive and historically sound book.
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Dr. Mellander is a respected Latin Americanist. He served as an academic dean at a university in Puerto Rico.