America's Colony: The Political and Cultural Conflict between the United States and Puerto Rico (Critical America) (Hardcover)

~ Pedro Malavet (Author)
Key Phrases: autonomist party, Rubén Berríos, bilateral compact, Puerto Rico, United States, Puerto Rican (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"America's Colony incisively analyzes the legal treatment of Puerto Rico as a U.S. territory and the second class treatment of Puerto Ricans. For anyone interested in one of the last American colonies, and modern Puerto Rico, including the controversy over bomb testing on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, Malavet's book is essential reading." KEVIN R. JOHNSON, University of California, Davis, School of Law "In an era increasingly concerned with democracy around the world, Malavet reminds us of the forgotten colony in our own backyard - Puerto Rico." ADRIEN K. WING, University of Iowa College of Law" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

The precise legal nature of the relationship between the United States and the people of Puerto Rico was not explicitly determined in 1898 when the Treaty of Paris transferred sovereignty over Puerto Rico from Spain to the United States. Since then, many court cases, beginning in 1901, have been instrumental in defining this delicate relationship.

While the legislation has clearly established the non-existence of Puerto Rican nationhood and lack of independent Puerto Rican citizenship, the debate over Puerto Rico's status continues to this day.

Malavet offers a critique of Puerto Rico's current status as well as of its treatment by the U.S. legal and political systems. Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States, and Puerto Ricans living on this geographically separate island are subject to the United States's legal and political authority. They are the largest group of U.S. citizens currently living under territorial status. Malavet argues that the Puerto Rican cultural nation experiences U.S. imperialism, which compromises both the island's sovereignty and Puerto Ricans' citizenship rights. He analyzes the three alternatives to Puerto Rico's continued territorial status, examining the challenges manifest in each possibility, as well as illuminating what he believes to be the best course of action.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 241 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814756808
• ISBN-13: 978-0814756805
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,835,000 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timely challenge to America's international democratic image, November 29, 2004

By	Steven W. Bender (Portland, OR, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In a season when the 2004 election placed emphasis on counting every vote and Americans valued our political system by contrast to the rampant election fraud in Ukraine, law professor Pedro Malavet has exposed one of the gaping cracks in our national and international political leadership--the U.S. occupation of Puerto Rico that has denied political participation to its residents for over a century without resolution. Observing correctly that few U.S. citizens understand or appreciate the second-class citizenship status of the people of Puerto Rico, Malavet charts a concise but potent history of occupation of Puerto Rico by Spain and then the United States, and proposes a strategy to enable Puerto Ricans to determine their desired status. Most heartening in his analysis is that despite their political second-class citizenship coupled with efforts to Americanize them, Malavet demonstrates that the people of Puerto Rico have managed to forge an independent cultural identity. Their sparkling cultural nationhood heightens the need to change the legal status of "America's colony." Called by one commentator a forgotten colony, Malavet addresses his birthplace with cultural reverence while exposing this underside of American democracy and demanding recognition of the flaws in the U.S.-Puerto Rico colonial relationship.