Puerto Rico Additional Resources

The Taínos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus. Irvin Rouse (Yale University Press, 1993). The most informed and accessible history of Puerto Rico’s first major civilization from their migration to the Caribbean to the decline of the civilization.
Puerto Rico: A Colonial Experiment. Raymond Carr (New York University Press, 1984). Though it can be difficult to find, this work by British historian Raymond Carr is one of the standard reads about Puerto Rico’s complex relationship with the United States.
Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History, Antonio Morales Carrión (W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1983). A bit dry and overly academic, but one of the few comprehensive histories of Puerto Rico available in English.

A Guide to the Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Herbert Raffaele, Cindy House, and John Wiessinger (Princeton University Press, 1989). This is hands-down the best book for bird-watchers traveling to Puerto Rico.
Where Dwarfs Reign: A Tropical Rain Forest in Puerto Rico. Katherine Robinson (University of Puerto Rico Press, 1997). A thorough look at the historical, geological, biological, and mineral aspects of El Yunque.

Puerto Rico, Borinquén Querida. Roger A. Labrucherie (Imágenes Press, 2001). A photojournalist’s account of the culture, history, and natural wonders of the island, highlighted with spectacular photos.
Stories from Puerto Rico/Historias de Puerto Rico. Robert L. Muckley and Adela Martínez-Santiago (Passport Books, 1999). Eighteen traditional Puerto Rican folk tales with short historical contextualizations. The book is part of the Bilingual Books series and all stories appear in both English and Spanish.
Puerto Rico Mío: Four Decades of Change. Jack Delano, Arturo Carrion, and Sidney Mintz (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990). This widely-acclaimed work combines Delano’s photographs from 1941, with photos of the same places in 1981 to illustrate the change, consistency, and beauty of island life.
Boricuas: Influential Puerto Rican Writings. Robert Santiago (Ballantine Books, 1995). With 50 short stories, plays, poems, and essays, this anthology provides a solid introduction to Puerto Rican writings of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as a glimpse into the island’s culture and history.
Clemente! Kal Wagenheim and Wilfrid Sheed (Olmstead Press, 2001). Using narrative and interviews, Wagenheim and Sheed detail the life and career of Puerto Rico’s most famous baseball legend, Roberto Clemente.

Juan Bobo Goes To Work: A Puerto Rican Folk Tale. Marisa Montes (Harper Collins Juvenile Books, 2000). This short children’s book relates the misadventures of Juan Bobo, a Puerto Rican version of Foolish Jack. The protagonist, a popular Puerto Rican folk character, has his own statue in one of Condado’s plazas.
When I Was Puerto Rican. Esmeralda Santiago (Vintage Books, 1994). Santiago recalls her childhood growing up in the Puerto Rican countryside and her move to Brooklyn at age 13. One of the most popular novels about Puerto Rican life.
The Rum Diary: A Novel. Hunter S. Thompson (Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1999). Though Thompson’s novel falls far short of his dream to create the great Puerto Rican novel, it does provide an interesting glimpse of Condado in the 1950s. Plotless, but enjoyable.