The "Puerto-Rican Problem" in Postwar New York City presents the first comprehensive examination of the emergence, evolution, and consequences of the “Puerto Rican problem” campaign and narrative in New York City from 1945 to 1960. This notion originated in an intense public campaign that arose in reaction to the entry of Puerto Rican migrants to the city after 1945. The “problem” narrative influenced their incorporation in New York City and other regions of the United States where they settled. The anti-Puerto Rican campaign led to the formulation of public policies by the governments of Puerto Rico and New York City seeking to ease their incorporation in the city. Notions intrinsic to this narrative later entered American academia (like the “culture of poverty”) and American popular culture (e.g., West Side Story), which reproduced many of the stereotypes associated with Puerto Ricans at that time and shaped the way in which Puerto Ricans were studied and perceived by Americans.

“Though Virginia Korrol grew up in the Puerto Rican community in New York City, and though she makes effective use of interviews, this is not a reminiscence of the recent past, but a clearly written study presented in a scientific manner. It focuses on the patterns of community development in Puerto Rican sections of New York. These patterns were influenced by the perpetuation of Puerto Rican customs and traditions, the growth of a business and professional class and, of particular importance, the retention of the Spanish language in the home and in the community. The role of Puerto Rican women in the community and the changes imposed upon them by a new life in the United States is the subject of special emphasis.”–New York History

In Sponsored Migration: The State and Puerto Rican Postwar Migration to the United States, Edgardo Meléndez provides the first comprehensive study of the role played by the Puerto Rican government in the promotion of migration and the incorporation of Puerto Ricans into the United States in the late 1940s, and the effects of this intervention on the political and economic development of Puerto Rico.

The book spans a period beginning in 1929 and ending in 2001. Part I, The Early Years, is a young boy's experiences in Puerto Rico. Part II, The City, focuses on New York City during the great depression. Part III are the events during the World War II years. Part IV deals with happenings in the post-war years. Par V, The turbulent 1960's, relate to occurrences in that decade. Part VI, A New Beginning, describes the man's life with a new wife and son. Part VII, are the writer's reactions to what occurred on September 11, 2001.

The history of Puerto Ricans in the so-called "Babel of Steel" dates back more than a century. Through hundreds of images of the "pioneers"-those Puerto Rican migrants who established themselves in New York City between the 1890s and the end of World War II-we capture a glimpse of their daily lives and of their individual and collective stories. This rich collection of images from the Archives of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College helps to examine the history of the Puerto Rican community at a time when it was spreading its roots in New York City's social, political, cultural, and economic life.