"Five centuries after Columbus discovered and the Spanish colonized Borinquen, Puerto Rico is today the oldest European settlement under the American flag. And yet, nearly a century after the Stars and Stripes were first raised over Puerto Rico, it remains the least understood part of America. Separated from the mainland by hundreds of miles of ocean and cultural, linguistic and historical divide of proportionate magnitude, Puerto Rico and her people remain enigmas to the vast majority of Americans on the continent. Paradoxically, those elements which contribute to this gap in understanding are the very factors which make Puerto Rico the most fascinating and complex of the many parts of the American whole, a unique cultural blend of the Spanish-Caribbean joie de vivre and the North American drive for organization and forward-thinking. In this new volume author-photographer Roger LaBrucherie (whose first book about the island, Images of Puerto Rico, has been a best-seller since its publication in 1984) has focused on his sentimental attachment for the island's natural beauty and cultural heritage. The result is a stunning and insightful depiction of this complex and beautiful island, a book which will educate those who are just getting to know Puerto Rico, as surely as it will delight those for whom Borinquen is home." -- Publisher's description

The sixteen essays in Writing Off the Hyphen approach the literature of the Puerto Rican diaspora from current theoretical positions, with provocative and insightful results. The authors analyze how the diasporic experience of Puerto Ricans is played out in the context of class, race, gender, and sexuality and how other themes emerging from postcolonialism and postmodernism come into play. Their critical work also demonstrates an understanding of how the process of migration and the relations between Puerto Rico and the United States complicate notions of cultural and national identity as writers confront their bilingual, bicultural, and transnational realities. The collection has considerable breadth and depth. It covers earlier, undertheorized writers such as Luisa Capetillo, Pedro Juan Labarthe, Bernardo Vega, Pura Belpré, Arturo Schomburg, and Graciany Miranda Archilla. Prominent writers such as Rosario Ferré and Judith Ortiz Cofer are discussed alongside often-neglected writers such as Honolulu-based Rodney Morales and gay writer Manuel Ramos Otero. The essays cover all the genres and demonstrate that current theoretical ideas and approaches create exciting opportunities and possibilities for the study of Puerto Rican diasporic literature.

This updated edition of the combination textbook and workbook is designed as an introduction to Spanish for classroom use. The emphasis is on oral proficiency--conversational speaking and listening comprehension--but the authors also present detailed instruction in the fundamentals of Spanish grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing in Spanish. The book is filled with exercises and answers, true-to-life dialogues, illustrations of Hispanic art, and photos that capture the flavor of Spanish culture in Spain and Latin America. In this new edition, the vocabulary sections and readings have been updated to include the latest technology, while the cultural sections now include information about the Hispanic individuals currently making a splash on the world scene.

Puerto Rico, one of the last and most populated colonial territories in the world, occupies a relatively unique position. Its lengthy interaction with the United States has resulted in the long-term acquisition of expanded legal rights and relative political stability. At the same time, that interaction has simultaneously seen political intolerance and the denial of basic rights, particularly toward those who have challenged colonialism. In Puerto Rico under Colonial Rule, academics and intellectuals from the fields of political science, history, sociology, and law examine three themes: evidence of state-sponsored political persecution in the twentieth century, contemporary issues, and the case of Vieques.