by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo
Princeton University Press
6/3/2025, paperback
SKU: 9780691231297
A panoramic history of Puerto Rico from pre-Columbian times to today
Puerto Rico is a Spanish-speaking territory of the United States with a history shaped by conquest and resistance. For centuries, Puerto Ricans have crafted and negotiated complex ideas about nationhood. Jorell Meléndez-Badillo provides a new history of Puerto Rico that gives voice to the archipelago's people while offering a lens through which to understand the political, economic, and social challenges confronting them today.
In this masterful work of scholarship, Meléndez-Badillo sheds light on the vibrant cultures of the archipelago in the centuries before the arrival of Columbus and captures the full sweep of Puerto Rico's turbulent history in the centuries that followed, from the first indigenous insurrection against colonial rule in 1511--led by the powerful chieftain Agüeybaná II--to the establishment of the Commonwealth in 1952. He deftly portrays the contemporary period and the intertwined though unequal histories of the archipelago and the continental United States.
Puerto Rico is an engaging, sometimes personal, and consistently surprising history of colonialism, revolt, and the creation of a national identity, offering new perspectives not only on Puerto Rico and the Caribbean but on the United States and the Atlantic world more broadly.
Reviews:
"I finished reading this book with tears in my eyes. This is a book that many Puerto Ricans should read for their individual and collective good. With the rigor of a well-trained historian, Jorell Meléndez-Badillo goes beyond traditional accounts and, with clarity and precision, with courage and honesty, offers a national history of Puerto Rico and a call to conscience." --Aníbal González-Pérez, Yale University
"As revolutionary for Latin American history as Bad Bunny's newest album was for reggaeton.... Puerto Rico: A National History provides an overview of Puerto Rican history from the Taíno civilization to the present in easy-to-understand language.... a must-read for anyone who would like to learn more about the archipelago and will be a key text in the field of Latin American history for years to come." --Cruz Bonlarron Martínez, Jacobin
"Puerto Rico is a much-needed retelling of the island nation's story. Jorell Meléndez-Badillo's centering of workers' movements, women, and queer activism as vital sources of political history resurrects Puerto Rico's silenced past. The usual suspects of established two-party politics are all here, but the riveting context of an array of actors from the bottom up as well as the author's personal narrative make it a rewarding read." --Ed Morales, author of Fantasy Island: Colonialism, Exploitation, and the Betrayal of Puerto Rico
About the Author:
Jorell Meléndez-Badillo is assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of The Lettered Barriada: Workers, Archival Power, and the Politics of Knowledge in Puerto Rico. He collaborated on Debí Tirar Más Fotos, the sixth solo studio album of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, writing the notes for the historical slides that accompany each track of the album.