Book Description
On New Year's Eve 1972, following eighteen magnificent seasons in the major leagues, Roberto Clemente died a hero's death, killed in a plane crash as he attempted to deliver food and medical supplies to Nicaragua after a devastating earthquake. David Maraniss now brings the great baseball player brilliantly back to life in Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero, a book destined to become a modern classic. Much like his acclaimed biography of Vince Lombardi, When Pride Still Mattered, Maraniss uses his narrative sweep and meticulous detail to capture the myth and a real man.
Anyone who saw Clemente, as he played with a beautiful fury, will never forget him. He was a work of art in a game too often defined by statistics. During his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he won four batting titles and led his team to championships in 1960 and 1971, getting a hit in all fourteen World Series games in which he played. His career ended with three-thousand hits, the magical three-thousandth coming in his final at-bat, and he and the immortal Lou Gehrig are the only players to have the five-year waiting period waived so they could be enshrined in the Hall of Fame immediately after their deaths.
There is delightful baseball here, including thrilling accounts of the two World Series victories of Clemente's underdog Pittsburgh Pirates, but this is far more than just another baseball book. Roberto Clemente was that rare athlete who rose above sports to become a symbol of larger themes. Born near the canebrakes of rural Carolina, Puerto Rico, on August 18, 1934, at a time when there were no blacks or Puerto Ricans playing organized ball in the United States, Clemente went on to become the greatest Latino player in the major leagues. He was, in a sense, the Jackie Robinson of the Spanish-speaking world, a ballplayer of determination, grace, and dignity who paved the way and set the highest standard for waves of Latino players who followed in later generations and who now dominate the game.
The Clemente that Maraniss evokes was an
idiosyncratic character who, unlike so many modern athletes, insisted that his responsibilities extended beyond the playing field. In his final years, his motto was that if you have a chance to help others and fail to do so, you are wasting your time on this earth. Here, in the final chapters, after capturing Clemente's life and times, Maraniss retraces his final days, from the earthquake to the accident, using newly uncovered documents to reveal the corruption and negligence that led the unwitting hero on a mission of mercy toward his untimely death as an uninspected, overloaded plane plunged into the sea.
Download Description
"""On New Year's Eve 1972, following eighteen magnificent seasons in the major leagues, Roberto Clemente died a hero's death, killed in a plane crash as he attempted to deliver food and medical supplies to Nicaragua after a devastating earthquake. David Maraniss now brings the great baseball player brilliantly back to life in Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero, a book destined to become a modern classic. Much like his acclaimed biography of Vince Lombardi, When Pride Still Mattered, Maraniss uses his narrative sweep and meticulous detail to capture the myth and a real man. Anyone who saw Clemente, as he played with a beautiful fury, will never forget him. He was a work of art in a game too often defined by statistics. During his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he won four batting titles and led his team to championships in 1960 and 1971, getting a hit in all fourteen World Series games in which he played. His career ended with three-thousand hits, the magical three-thousandth coming in his final at-bat, and he and the immortal Lou Gehrig are the only players to have the five-year waiting period waived so they could be enshrined in the Hall of Fame immediately after their deaths. There is delightful baseball here, including thrilling accounts of the two World Series victories of Clemente's underdog Pittsburgh Pirates, but this is far more than just another baseball book. Roberto Clemente was that rare athlete who rose above sports to become a symbol of larger themes. Born near the canebrakes of rural Carolina, Puerto Rico, on August 18, 1934, at a time when there were no blacks or Puerto Ricans playing organized ball in the United States, Clemente went on to become the greatest Latino player in the major leagues. He was, in a sense, the Jackie Robinson of the Spanish-speaking world, a ballplayer of determination, grace, and dignity who paved the way and set the highest standard for waves of Latino players who followed in later generations and who now dominate the game. The Clemente that Maraniss evokes was an idiosyncratic character who, unlike so many modern athletes, insisted that his responsibilities extended beyond the playing field. In his final years, his motto was that if you have a chance to help others and fail to do so, you are wasting your time on this earth. Here, in the final chapters, after capturing Clemente's life and times, Maraniss retraces his final days, from the earthquake to the accident, using newly uncovered documents to reveal the corruption and negligence that led the unwitting hero on a mission of mercy toward his untimely death as an uninspected, overloaded plane plunged into the sea. """
Customer Reviews:
Hometown Son Makes Good, Very Good.......2007-10-13
There is source material in this work for three separate books, actually: the first would be the story of Caribbean baseball and its grand entrance into the United States Major Leagues, as personified by Roberto Clemente, Vic Power, and others. The second volume would detail Clemente's extraordinary and unusual career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, including an impressive array of hitting and fielding records, two remarkable World Series, and the mixed reaction of Pirate Nation to his outspoken ways. The third part would be the dramatic and perhaps criminal tale of events leading to Clemente's untimely death in the midst of earthquake relief operations for stricken Nicaragua.
For better or worse, we have all of these stories in one volume which results in a powerful but dizzy tale that struggles to give all of these aspects of Clemente's life their due. And if there is a common thread that holds the work together, it is the Clemente drive to make his statement, whether it be in the face of prejudice and/or bureaucracy in the Brooklyn Dodger organization, the popular conception in Pittsburgh that he was a hypochondriac whiner, or his own perception of being slighted in the MVP voting in 1960.
Roberto Clemente was born on August 18, 1934, in what is today the San Juan suburb of Carolina. In the 1930's Carolina was hardscrabble living, a town whose passions fortunately included baseball. Maraniss provides a fine overview of organized baseball in the Caribbean. Its professional leagues, certainly those in Puerto Rico, were as hotly contested as Yankee Pinstripes and Red Sox Nation. By 18 Clemente was playing the outfield for the Santurce Cangrejeros. It was five years since Jackie Robinson broke the US color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the same Brooklyn Dodgers actively scouted the young Clemente. Despite the quality and intensity of Puerto Rican baseball at that time, there was also a sense on the island that native sons who excelled in US Major League Baseball would bring prestige to the Commonwealth.
Thus, Clemente incurred no family wrath when he signed with Brooklyn in 1954. Although Puerto Rican by birth, his dark skin presented as Negro, and he discovered the hard reality of North American racial bias. Assigned to Montreal of the International League, he was miserable and hidden on the Royals' bench by Dodger management until wily scouts of the woeful Pittsburgh Pirates plucked him away. The new Pirate Clemente was regarded as something of a loose cannon. There was truth in this assessment: the right fielder was entirely unorthodox in every aspect of his game--fielding, batting, running.
Clemente's early years in Pittsburgh were awkward, and his relations with the local press were marked by mutual cultural misunderstandings, but he became a favorite of the fans, including influential announcer Bob "The Gunner" Prince. His hustle and stats began to soothe the concerns of new manager Danny Murtaugh, who was building the famous 1960 squad that overcame the NY Yankees in a long remembered October classic. Clemente had an outstanding season and World Series, but the MVP award of 1960 was voted to Pirate shortstop and teammate Dick Groat. It can be said with some accuracy that Clemente took this setback to his death.
Despite a long and highly successful career with the Pirates, Clemente's personality was perplexing and often misunderstood. Maraniss wrestled mightily with this hard truth. Clemente was personally generous, gracious to fans, devoted to his family and friends. As the Pirates representative, he joined forces with Marvin Miller and the fledgling players union to back Curt Flood's groundbreaking challenge to the reserve clause. His marriage to Vera Zabala seems to have been a happy one; Clemente would refer to her as his closest friend and confidante [and certainly an extraordinary listener.]
But, by no stretch of the imagination could Clemente be described as a happy man. A lifelong insomniac, Clemente was impulsive and outspoken. A proud man, he quietly seethed through the 1960's as it became clear he was regarded as at best the third best outfielder in his league, always a step or two behind Mays and Aaron. When he managed his emotions, he was magnificent: the 1971 World Series was his opportunity to make his case for his body of work, and he used that stage magnificently. The following year, however, his anger would cost him dearly.
During the Christmas season of 1972 Nicaragua was devastated by an earthquake. This nation held a special place in Clemente's affections: he had played and managed there, and acquired many friends and mentors there over the years. And, as Maraniss notes many times, Clemente was consistently generous with his time, energy, and money. Many nations came to the aid of the stricken nation, but none more so than the people of Puerto Rico, prompted in no small part by Clemente's televised appeals and organized collections of food, supplies, and money.
As the rescue week wore on, Clemente became incensed that the aid being sent to the Nicaraguan people was being intercepted by the troops of strongman Anastasio Somoza. In retrospect, there were a number of diplomatic ways to address the problem. Clemente opted for a physical showdown at the Managua Airport with the Somoza people. He hastily contracted for another relief plane in which he himself would be a passenger. His homework was poor--the only charter available was an under serviced war horse owned by amateurs who in truth did not know how to fly such a plane, and then loaded it with supplies well above the plane's capacity. One by one, his friends begged off the flight. Nonetheless, Clemente's "blood was up" for his cause. The thought of Clemente facing off with Somoza is tantalizing, but it never happened. The ill advised rescue flight crashed into the sea almost in sight of the San Juan Airport. Clemente the ballplayer was dead; Clemente the icon was canonized.
On "Clemente".......2007-09-17
Because he played his entire baseball career in Pittsburgh, Roberto Clemente never received the attention he deserved from sportswriters whose worlds revolved around New York. Perhaps for the same reason, the Pirates rightfielder was also overlooked by top biographers until recently. When David Maraniss published Clemente in 2006, it was time that someone of stature wrote about the first great Latino ballplayer who later achieved heroic status after dying in an earthquake relief effort.
Maraniss' effort is solid, though not quite perfect. He appropriately devotes enough pages describing life in Clemente's homeland, Puerto Rico, and the segregated cities and towns where Clemente spent his early years in the major leagues. Maraniss serves up a reminder of the Jim Crow south and shows that it also affected black Latinos. At Pirates spring training in Fort Myers, Florida, Clemente and the other black players were barred from the downtown hotels, pools and golf clubs where white ballplayers and their families went. Maraniss even recalls there was a designated "colored night" at a county fair, and whites stayed away. Maraniss also describes Schenley Heights, the small but tight-knit black neighborhood where Clemente lived in Pittsburgh. Schenley Heights was also home to the offices of the Pittsburgh Courier, the black newspaper that focused on covering black ballplayers. Appropriately, the Courier's coverage of Clemente is also a focus of Maraniss' biography.
As for Clemente himself, Maraniss succeeds in showing more than the skilled hitter and speedy rightfielder with a shotgun arm. He reveals a proud, yet idiosyncratic, Latino who is frustrated with the white sports establishment. He shows Clemente spouting off about white sportswriters who tended to quote him in broken English. And in a chapter titled "Alone At the Miracle," Maraniss poignantly shows Clemente celebrating the 1960 World Series victory by slipping out a side door of Forbes Field and finally "radiating happiness" after he is mobbed by his fans.
Maraniss devotes about 350 pages to Clemente--roughly 150 less than he needed for his acclaimed biography on Vince Lombardi. It seems fair to wonder if Maraniss would have delved even deeper into Clemente's life if the author were a Pittsburgher rather than a Wisconsin man. At times Clemente's story seems dependent on those who weren't among those who were closest to him--namely affable ex-pitcher Steve Blass, now a sportscaster. There are moments when Maraniss relies on Blass' point of view when it doesn't seem natural, such as when Blass, who is white, seeks to explain Clemente's fear of being misinterpreted when speaking English.
In the end, Maraniss does his homework and writes thoroughly about the plane crash that killed Clemente while he was on the way to help victims of the earthquake in Nicaragua. Clemente died in a shoddy plane that was overloaded with relief supplies, and many of the details are gleaned from government records. So in all, Maraniss crafted a fine book, though not a flawless one, about a man who finally deserved the extra recognition.
Tragedy Relived.......2007-09-13
Did you ever have trouble reading a book (particularly biography) because you knew that it would end tragically? This was my problem with David Maraniss's excellent biography of the late baseball star and Puerto Rican icon, Roberto Clemente. You see, near the end of his fabled career, Clemente rode on a plane carrying relief supplies from Puerto Rico to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua. The charter flight didn't make it half a mile off the runway before crashing into the shark-infested waters off the island. I knew of the tragic death, and still felt that by delaying reading about it, I could somehow delay its reality, or at least its renewed emotional impact on me.
One of the most gifted, dedicated and competitive athletes ever to play the game, Clemente was often tormented by the lack of recognition given him in the days of stars like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson, and made no bones about his displeasure. His strong Hispanic accent was lampooned in the press, and his dedication to playing only in top form was ridiculed as "jaking" by some, creating a prickly relationship between writers and Roberto in most cases.
But in his private life, Clemente was a charming and generous man, dedicated to improving the lives of children on his home island, and to reaching out to a variety of fans/strangers, who became friends and then like part of the Clemente family. Maraniss describes well Clemente's growth into this persona from the often embittered young man who one time slugged a bystanding fan out of frustration.
Clemente's growth from a talented, but somewhat immature youth to baseball elder (and heroic MVP of the Pittsburgh Pirates 1971 World Series championship) and Puerto Rican statesman (one friend said after Clemente's death that he knew that Roberto's life would consist of "playing baseball as long as he wanted to and then becoming governor of Puerto Rico."), makes the historical certainty of his tragic death all the more distressing. To pile on even more pain, the airplane crash was essentially inevitable, the combination of greed and oversight on the ground in Puerto Rico with the plane, its operators and its pilot, and the corruption of the Somoza regime in Nicaragua, who commandeered a majority of imported relief supplies for their own enrichment. Clemente boarded the doomed plane so that his presence in Nicaragua could insure that the supplies would reach the needy.
By the time of his death, Clemente was so revered on his home island that locals believed that he would walk tattered out of the sea to safety. But all that was found of him was one sock. Having read Maraniss' detailed account of these events, I feel worse about Clemente's death than I did when it happened (I was still a callow 18-year old American League fan at the time.) What a loss to humanity and for all the wrong reasons--greed and sloth ending a philanthropic act and the life of a great man. I wasn't around when Jesus supposedly died on the cross for the sins of all mankind, an overreaching tragic story that I still have trouble relating to, but I was alive on New Year's Eve in 1972, when Roberto Clemente died trying to relieve the suffering of people in Nicaragua.
Did I mention that I had a hard time finishing the book? I did all right until the last section, as Maraniss includes plenty of baseball action, including Bill Mazeroski's famous home run that beat the New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series (I was six at the time and didn't know or care). He also includes a retrospective on baseball in Puerto Rico, and the pioneers that first played in the U.S major leagues--Hiram Bithorn, for whom the main stadium in San Juan was name (I visited there in the late '80s) was the godfather of Puerto Rican baseball. Maraniss also handles the twin subjects of U.S racism against blacks (unknown in Puerto Rico) and Hispanic "ethnicism" in the U.S.
There is an bittersweet upside to story, as indicated by Maraniss's subhead "The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero". It's enriching to read the story of a such a deep and giving soul in the world of baseball at a time when most of what we read about outside the foul lines relates to contract negotiations and allegations regarding use of performanc enhancing drugs. I emotionally recommend this book to Clemente's fans (who've probably already read it), to baseball fans in general, and to all readers who want to learn more about what makes up a great man.
Great gift idea.......2007-08-09
Recommended by a friend who got the book as a b-day gift. Bought it as a b-day gift for my husband who really loved it. He said he learned a lot about Clemente even though he was a lifelong fan.
A great baseball player and a great person.......2007-08-07
David Maraniss's biography (hagiography?) of the great Puerto Rican baseball star Roberto Clemente is destined to become a classic of the genre. I grew up outside of Pittsburgh but was too young to have any memories of Clemente as a boy. I just remembered him as a great player who died tragically trying to help others. There is, of course, so much more to his career and his life, and I think that Maraniss has captured the essence of his complex personality. Whether you are a baseball fan, a Pirates fan, or just want to learn more about Clemente, you'll enjoy this book.
Unlike many other sports superstars, who are little more than pampered, whiney, self-centered egomaniacs, Clemente was a great man both on and off the field. He certainly had his dose of ego and pride, and his feathers were easy ruffled by reporters who didn't show him due respect, but as I was reading this book I couldn't help but compare Clemente's life to that of Mickey Mantle. There is no question that Mantle was, on the field, an all around better player than Clemente, but rose-colored Billy Crystal myopics aside, Clemente was everything off the field that Mantle wasn't. Clemente was a fiercely proud man who spent his off seasons playing in the Puerto Rican league and playing/coaching Latin American teams because he felt he owed it to his native land and people. He was a family man and father who wanted to raise his children right so that (in Maraniss's words) they were respected and they respected others. Mantle spent his non-baseball time drinking and chasing women, all five of his sons growing up to be alcoholics like their father. Ultimately Clemente died trying to help others in need.
There are two things about this book that really annoyed me. First, Maraniss goes out of his way throughout the book to insert his own political views (Clintonian/big city liberal) into the story. Whether you agree with his views or not, it really detracts from the story as it has nothing to do with Clemente. There is a long discussion on the chapter about the earthquake in Managua where Maraniss describes Howard Hughes's selfish and heartless retreat from Managua to a luxury hotel in London. Hughes's links to Richard Nixon, the dictator Somoza (which Maraniss points out is a West Point grad), and the general corruption in Nicaragua are inserted in the story to belittle Nixon, Republicans, and the wealthy. These are certainly interesting issues in their own right, but contribute absolutely nothing to Clemente's story. The other thing that I didn't like was that Maraniss wrote the biography in such a manner that Clemente's tragic death hangs over the whole tale, as in some type of Greek tragedy where the hero's ultimate destiny is pre-ordained. More drama than biography.
The bottom line though is that this is a great biography of a sports superstar who is worthy of our admiration whose off the field character far exceeded anything he did on the field. Clemente was the kind of man that we would like our heros to be. Maraniss has captured his essence, and I think that you'll like this book even if your aren't a big Pirates or baseball fan.
Book Description
None of the Above is a state-of-the-art volume about current debates regarding Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, both in the United States and on the Island. The title simultaneously refers to the results of a non-binding 1998 plebiscite held in San Juan to determine the Island's political status, the ambiguities that have historically characterized Puerto Rican political agency, and the complexities of Puerto Rican ethnic, national, and cultural identifications.
Book Description
Puerto Ricans maintain a vibrant identity that bridges two very different places--the island of Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland. Whether they live on the island, in the States, or divide time between the two, most imagine Puerto Rico as a separate nation and view themselves primarily as Puerto Rican. At the same time, Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917, and Puerto Rico has been a U.S. commonwealth since 1952.
Jorge Duany uses previously untapped primary sources to bring new insights to questions of Puerto Rican identity, nationalism, and migration. Drawing a distinction between political and cultural nationalism, Duany argues that the Puerto Rican "nation" must be understood as a new kind of translocal entity with deep cultural continuities. He documents a strong sharing of culture between island and mainland, with diasporic communities tightly linked to island life by a steady circular migration. Duany explores the Puerto Rican sense of nationhood by looking at cultural representations produced by Puerto Ricans and considering how others--American anthropologists, photographers, and museum curators, for example--have represented the nation. His sources of information include ethnographic fieldwork, archival research, interviews, surveys, censuses, newspaper articles, personal documents, and literary texts.
Customer Reviews:
Can pictures talk? ....I think so........2006-09-30
I can't belive how Mr. Delano took this pictures in a way that it seems they are telling you a complete story. In thi book you can see how Puerto Rico had differente eras and how progress came to our Island. It was not an easy process but you can see it thru the excellent work of Jack Delano. Children, Adults, workers, farmers, everybody even poor people have part in this book because they all were part of our history. An excellent work.
Puerto Rico Past and Present.......2005-03-20
This is an amazing book. This book allow the reader to see the different changes than our island had been thru. Excellent.
A powerful photo essay about change in Puerto Rico.......2001-02-25
This book is fascinating! After spending an hour with this book I felt like I really knew what time has meant to Borinquen. Hearing family stories is one thing, but seeing pictures from when they were growing up is another. Anyone interested in Puerto Rican history should have this book.
Breathtaking, beautiful and touching.......2000-07-01
I simply love this book. As a starving college student, I still haven't come up with the money to buy it, but...someday I will. I've leafed through it a million times and never get bored by it...as a native Puertorrican living abroad, this is simply my favorite photographic work on my homeland. Delano did an amazing job.
Memories of joyful, heartfelt splendor fill the soul........1998-12-18
The pages of this pictorial opus expresses the legacy, struggle, beauty, misery, joy of Puerto Rico of days past. Second, third generation Puerto Ricans will reconnect with their roots page by page. This is surely an enlighting photo memoir of our People, the images speak louder then words. The power of photograph comes to light in these pages, and Delano did it so well. Delano saves the spirit of Puerto Rico's past, once thought to be lost with faded memories. This is a book to keep for oneself, it strenghtens one's soul.
Amazon.com
Although Puerto Rico is technically a territory of the United States, José Trias Monge prefers the unvarnished term "colony" to describe his homeland's difficult position. Spain ceded control of the island to the United States more than 100 years ago, and in that time Washington has continually avowed its desire to respect the wishes of the Puerto Ricans while systematically limiting its sovereignty. Only three options remain open to the island: Puerto Rico can remain a territory with greater sovereignty, become an independent nation, or join the U.S. as the 51st state. Yet frequent plebiscites held in the territory have resolved nothing. primarily due, Monge asserts, to the U.S.'s reluctance to truly allow Puerto Rico to become self-governing before any final decision is made about the territory's status. Though Monge is quick to point out how Puerto Rico has benefited from its relationship with the U.S., he is unwavering in his support of the idea that "Nobody has the right to govern another: it is as simple as that."
Book Description
The island of Puerto Rico has a severely distressed economy, is one of the most densely populated places on earth, and enjoys only limited political freedom.. In this book a distinguished Puerto Rican legal scholar and former government official discusses the island`s century-old relationship with the United States and argues that the process of decolonization should begin immediately.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Overview of the PR Status Question.......2005-01-12
This is a relative short (less than 200 pages), straightforward and direct book on the most important subject facing PR for 100 years. The author gives us a great background on the evolution of the status question (independence, statehood or commonwealth) for PR since Spain ceded it to the U.S. after the Spanish American War of 1898. Other lands that were ceded after the war (Philippines, Cuba) were granted more autonomy and even independence than PR was. But why? The author tries to answer that.
The bigger issue is that the Commonwealth status that PR and the US enacted in 1952, while a step forward, is not really the "true" associated free state that PR envisioned for itself. While PR generally makes its own laws and governs itself, in the things that it cannot do and the ability of Congress to abolish some laws, the island can be defined as a colony in the purest sense of the word. The author goes on to state many times that it is not an issue of dislike toward the Americans, something so fashionable these days. In fact, he clearly states that whether PR chooses to be independent or perfects the commonwealth status, a close association with the U.S. would be a very desirable thing. The U.S. has generally been a very positive influence in the economic development of the island.
However, the island was told early on by the U.S. that when the day came and it was ready, the U.S. would allow it to choose its destiny in terms of self-government and would honor it...a "promise" that has not been kept. In my opinion, with 400 years of Spanish rule in the background, I don't think Puerto Ricans would ever assimilate culturally to being a state. They would never let that happen. An improved associated free state is the likeliest outcome.
The question of at least not being a "colony" anymore is the main issue of the book and it is such a central and clear problem for the residents of the island that the heads of all three main parties (independence party included) have all come out against the current dangling status.
The author doesn't make an overt case for statehood or an improved commonwealth status. I think he does a good job of stating the possible advantages and disadvantages of either scenario. It would be a very difficult decision and drawn-out process, but it must be undertaken in order to gain a better sense of self-respect for both the US and PR.
Exposes the "cupones por megatones" US citizenship theory.......2000-03-10
Essentially, Trias Monge is not the most appropriate person to demand additional autonomy for Puerto Rico (he was responsible for the systematic use of dossiers by the Puerto Rican police to gather intelligence against those who precisely demanded in the past the same things that he's demanding now), but he has a point. Puerto Rico has become a military colony, exchanging "cupones" (entitlements) for "megatones" (no need to explain here). Faust would be proud; Trias' point is precisely that. Puerto Ricans are nominal US citizens, furthering annexation would require a change in the island's cultural mindset. An eye opener, should be required reading for US Congressmen and Puerto Ricans alike.
Must read for all Americans, including those in Puerto Rico.......1999-05-01
There has been much misunderstandings between Americans in the mainland and those who live in Puerto Rico for over 100 years. It is time for Congres to take an active role in their resposibility! If the Declaration of Independence is more than empty words, then all American Citizens would have a voice. Those 4 million in Puerto Rico do not. Is that DEMOCRACY?
Book Description
As Spain rebuilt its colonial regime in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines after the Spanish American revolutions, it turned to history to justify continued dominance. The metropolitan vision of history, however, always met with opposition in the colonies.
The Conquest of History examines how historians, officials, and civic groups in Spain and its colonies forged national histories out of the ruins and relics of the imperial past. By exploring controversies over the veracity of the Black Legend, the location of Christopher Columbus’s mortal remains, and the survival of indigenous cultures, Christopher Schmidt-Nowara’s richly documented study shows how history became implicated in the struggles over empire. It also considers how these approaches to the past, whether intended to defend or to criticize colonial rule, called into being new postcolonial histories of empire and of nations.
Amazon.com
On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, nearly assassinated President Harry Truman. If this historical fact surprises you, you're not alone. American Gunfight, a new account by suspense novelist and Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Stephen Hunter and journalist John Bainbridge Jr., examines this largely forgotten episode in meticulous detail, including the conspiracy surrounding it and the misconceptions associated with the would-be assassins. As the book makes clear, it's remarkable that these two men even came close to succeeding, given the disorganized nature of the plot. Intending to attack the president at the White House, they only learned in passing from a cab driver that it was being renovated and that Truman was in fact living at the nearby Blair House. When they made their assault on Blair House, they quickly lost their element of surprise when Collazo's gun misfired, leading to a 38-second shootout in front of the residence that left Torresola and one policeman dead. Meanwhile, Truman witnessed the action from an upstairs window.
At his ensuing trial, Collazo was depicted as a crazed fanatic, but the authors argue that this simplified assessment unnecessarily dismisses a potential political conspiracy involving Puerto Rican nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, who was believed by some to have masterminded the plot in an effort to bring attention to his cause. Hunter and Bainbridge provide in-depth portraits of Collazo and Torresola, as well as the Secret Service agent and three White House policemen who saved Truman's life. The descriptions of the remarkably light presidential security of the era reveal much about 1950s Washington, D.C., a time in which the president would take a daily walk around the neighborhood with just a bodyguard or two in tow. As a result of the attack, the Secret Service would forever change the way it guarded the president. This fast-paced book reads like a detective thriller, shifting quickly between various story lines and characters, including a second-by-second breakdown of the gunfight itself. The potboiler narrative may seem over the top at times, with its conjecture and imagined internal dialogue, but this comprehensive account succeeds in bringing this unlikely plot vividly to life. --Shawn Carkonen
Download Description
"American Gunfight is the fast-paced, definitive, and breathtakingly suspenseful account of an extraordinary historical event -- the attempted assassination of President Harry Truman in 1950 by two Puerto Rican Nationalists and the bloody shoot-out in the streets of Washington, D.C., that saved the president's life. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Stephen Hunter, the widely admired and bestselling novelist and author of such books as Havana, Hot Springs, and Dirty White Boys, and John Bainbridge, Jr., an experienced journalist and lawyer, American Gunfight is at once a groundbreaking work of meticulous historical research and the vivid and dramatically told story of an act of terrorism that almost succeeded. They have pieced together, at last, the story of the conspiracy that nearly doomed the president and how a few good men -- ordinary guys who were willing to risk their lives in the line of duty -- stopped it. It is a book about courage -- on both sides -- and about what politics and devotion to a cause can lead men to do, and about what actually happens, second by second, when a gunfight explodes. It begins on November 1, 1950, an unseasonably hot afternoon in the sleepy capital. At 2:00 P.M. in his temporary residence at Blair House, the president of the United States takes a nap. At 2:20 P.M., two men approach Blair House from different directions. Oscar Collazo, a respected metal polisher and family man, and Griselio Torresola, an unemployed salesman, don't look dangerous, not in their new suits and hats, not in their calm, purposeful demeanor, not in their slow, unexcited approach. What the three White House policemen and one Secret Service agent cannot guess is that under each man's coat is a 9mm German automatic pistol and in each head, a dream of assassin's glory. At point-blank range, Collazo and then Torresola draw and fire and move toward the president of the United States. Hunter and Bainbridge tell the story of that November day with narrative power and careful attention to detail. They are the first to report on the inner workings of this conspiracy; they examine the forces that led the perpetrators to conceive the plot. The authors also tell the story of the men themselves, from their youth and the worlds in which they grew up to the women they loved and who loved them to the moment the gunfire erupted. Their telling commemorates heroism -- the quiet commitment to duty that in some moments of crisis sees some people through an ordeal, even at the expense of their lives. "
Customer Reviews:
This is a winner!.......2006-11-22
This has everything you want in a good book. A great story, history, drama, and pathos. I am a history teacher and was impressed by both the depth of research and the quality of the writing.
This is about 2 Puerto Rican Nationalists who, compelled by their fervent beliefs, tried to assassinate President Harry Truman in 1950. Most people do not realize how close they came to succeeding.
The story alternates between historical background and a moment to moment account of the gun fight that occurred on that day.
This book kept me enthralled the entire time I was reading it. I can't think of anyone who would not thoroughly enjoy this book.
The Attempt on President Truman's Life.......2006-10-21
Authors Stephen Hunter and John Bainbridge provide the reader with minute details on the assassination attempt by Puerto Rican Nationalists on President Harry Truman outside Blair House on November 1, 1950. Many of the details provided are those they perceive to be in the mind of each of the assassins and those they are attacking during the gunfight. These details are interesting and perhaps correct. I feel it makes for a more interesting book. To me, the main drawback of the book is its disjointedness. Whenever a character is introduced into the story we are provided with a chapter delving into their background from years before. Due to this method of writing the book loses its continuity. The authors make a convincing case that the attempt may have been a part of a wider conspiracy. Security for presidents tightened significantly following the attempt on Truman's life. Truman did not run for reelection in 1952, and the attempt on his life may very well have been a factor in his decision. I have to admit to being one of those the authors refer to as those who weren't aware of this attempt on the life of President Truman, but confuse it with an incident in 1954 when four Puerto Rican Nationalists had a shootout in Congress. The book educated me, but I did not like getting sidetracked with chapters introducing the characters when they entered the story.
great...love it.......2006-07-07
This book is awesome. First book I read about the subject. You will find yourself reading a chapter and saying what the hell...and then he draws it all together. It is written very well.
Fascinating Story, Could Have Been Told Better.......2006-05-01
One of the thinks I particularly enjoy about history is its depth. While most people have at least a general familiarity with history, even students of history can always be surprised by in-depth looks at various periods of history. American Gunfight is a great example of this; while I was aware that two Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate President Truman in 1950, the details of the incident and the context surrounding it were not covered in any of the other histories of Truman I've read. While that was a logical decision on the part of the authors, as aside from this incident, Puerto Rico was a very small part of Truman's presidency, it left out a fascinating story that illustrates a slice of American history that is often forgotten.
American Gunfight provides a detailed look at the gunfight outside Blair House that left two men dead and three wounded, reviving the memory of American hero Les Coffelt, who almost certainly saved the President's life by killing one of the assassins even as he was bleeding out from three gunshot wounds. But the book goes well beyond the gunfight, branching out to explore the history of the men involved in the battle and the history of Puerto Rican nationalism. The book also takes on some of the common myths regarding the gunfight, in particular the theory that President Truman's life was never in danger.
The book's layout is somewhat distracting. The book jumps from the gunfight to background with each chapter, so the gunfight develops over the course of the entire work rather than being described as a discrete event. While it does serve as a useful means of introducing the characters and events surrounding the gunfight, I found it somewhat annoying. I also disliked the writers' tendency to mix tenses; in the middle of one paragraph they mix past and present with abandon.
Nonetheless, the book is well-researched and easy to read despite the issues I had with it, and I recommend it to anyone interested in President Truman, American history, or history in general.
Could have been a great magazine article ..........2006-04-29
In a nutshell, this is a compelling story that's essentially ruined by horrible prose. The authors have adopted an almost "Memento"-esque flashback method of telling the backstories of all the personalities featured--no matter how mundane or irrelevant the detail. There's a great deal of repetition of key events and plot points as a result. I could live with this, but what absolutely ruined the book for me was the constant use of past and present tenses interchangeably--often within the same sentence! Additionally, the prose slips from formal to conversational too easily to suit me, though this is far less annoying than the incessant changing of tenses. It made me feel as if I was reading a book that had been hastily cobbled together over a weekend.
The authors introduce one of their interminable flashbacks at one point by saying "this book is about 38.5 seconds of gunfight, however ..." and therein lies the problem. This is undoubtedly a fascinating story, one with which most Americans are probably unfamiliar, and one that definitely deserves to be told. However, it would have read much easier as a 10- or 12-page magazine article; stretching it out into 325 pages really seems unnecessary.
Customer Reviews:
Brutal Read.......2007-01-23
This book is a brutal read. It is so dry and dull; I only purchased it because of my Anthropology course required it. I never truly read past the 3rd chapter; after then, I just began skimming and trying to salvage my grade. The book is plagued with too many descriptions and adjectives, the book really never gets anywhere, nor does it pick up speed and get interesting. The book is written by an anthropology student who traveled to Puerto Rico to document its people and culture. This is seriously like reading a term paper. If you want to learn about Puerto Rican life.... I don't know what to tell you, maybe try to catch something on TV.
- "Taso"
Hats off to Sidney W. Mintz.......2000-05-22
Sidney W. Mintz humanizes the `cane worker' in this vibrant ethnography in which he combines knowledge gained during a formal research period (`48 - `49) with the autobiography of his key informant, Taso (Anastacio {Eustaquio} Zayas Alvarado).
The critical core of this ethnography, the autobiography, was an afterthought. Shortly after the conclusion of his field work with Mintz, Taso joined the Pentacostal Church. Mintz was astonished and perplexed by Taso's decision since he thought he knew Taso and viewed him as a practical, intelligent man not vulnerable to seemingly irrational and spontaneous life choices.
Mintz returned to P.R. in 1953 to unearth the reasoning underlying the conversion and in the course of his search (lucky for us) he assembled Taso's autobiography. Taso's life story is interwoven with Mintz's personal observations of Taso, interviews with Taso's wife, Elí (Elisabeth Villaronga Colón de Zayas) and Mintz's commentaries based on information gathered during the `48 -'49 research period. The combination of autobiography and ethnography brings Taso, his family and the neighboring Juaqueños to life. These are warm bodied human beings we can care about, not the deadwood of the traditional ethnography.
May 22, 2000
Book Description
"We were poor but we had everything we needed," reminisces Doña Epifania. Nonetheless, when a man she knew told her about a job in Philadelphia, she grasped the opportunity to leave Coamas. "He went to Puerto Rico and told me there were beans to cook. I came here and cooked for fourteen workers." In San Lorenzo, Doña Carmen and her husband made the same decision: "We didn't want to, nobody wanted to leave. . . . There wasn't any alternative." Don Florencio recalls that in Salinas work had gotten scarce, "especially for the youth, the young men. . . . The farmworker that was used to cutting cane, already the sugar cane was disappearing," and government licensing regulations made fishing "more difficult for the poor."
Puerto Rican migration to the mainland following World War II took place for a range of reasons—globalization of the economy, the colonial relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico, state policies, changes in regional and local economies, social networks, and, not least, the decisions made by individual immigrants. In this wide-ranging book, Carmen Whalen weaves them all into a tapestry of Puerto Rican immigration to Philadelphia.
Like African Americans and Mexicans, Puerto Ricans were recruited for low-wage jobs, only to confront racial discrimination as well as economic restructuring. As Whalen shows, they were part of that wave of newcomers who come from areas in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia characterized by a heavy U.S. military and economic presence, especially export processing zones, looking for a new life in depressed urban environments already populated by earlier labor migrants. But Puerto Rican immigration was also unique, especially in its regional and gender dimensions. Many migrants came as part of contract labor programs shaped by competing agendas.
By the 1990s, economic conditions, government policies, and racial ideologies had transformed Puerto Rican labor migrants into what has been called "the other underclass." Professor Whalen analyzes this continuation of "culture of poverty" interpretations and contrasts it with the efforts of Philadelphia Puerto Ricans to recreate their communities and deal with the impact of economic restructuring and residential segregation in the City of Brotherly Love.
Book Description
Little attention has been paid to the Latino movements of the 1960's and 1970's in the literature of social movements. This volume is the first significant look at the organizations of the Puerto Rican movement, which emerged in the late 1960's and 1970's as a response to U.S. colonialism on the island and to the poverty and discrimination faced by most Puerto Ricans on the mainland.
To combat these two problems, and drawing on a tradition of patriotism and social responsibility, a number of organizations grew up, including the Young Lords Party (YLP), which later evolved into the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization; the Pro-Independence Movement (MPI), which evolved into the U.S. branch of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party; El Comité; the Puerto Rican Student Union (PRSU); the Movement for National Liberation (MLN); and the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN). The Puerto Rican Movement looks at all these groups as specific organizations of real people in such places as Boston, Chicago, Hartford, New York, and Philadelphia.
The contributors, almost all of whom were involved with the organizations they describe, provide detailed descriptions and historical analyses of the Puerto Rican Left. Interviews with such key figures as Elizam Escobar, Piri Thomas, and Luis Fuentes, as well as accounts by people active in the gay/lesbian, African-American, and White Left movements add a vivid picture of why and how people became radicalized and how their ideals intersected with their group's own dynamics.
These critical assessments highlight each organization's accomplishments and failures and illuminate how different sets of people, in different circumstances, respond to social problems-in this case, the "national question" and the issues of social justice and movement politics.
Customer Reviews:
A good book for leftists of color.......2002-07-08
This is not just a generalized book about Puerto Ricans. This is a packed anthology about the history of leftwing Puerto Rican organizations, both here and on the island. Let the reader be forewarned: it's purposely leftist and purposely focused on organizing. The book takes as a given that its writers favor independence from the United States. The book has a great chapter on PR gay and lesbian organizing along the East Coast. Many enthusiasts of Latino studies, leftist activism, and anti-racism struggles should purchase this. Just know that the book is written by progressives for progressives.
Books:
- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
- CVJ: Nicknames of Maitre D's and Other Excerpts from Life
- Dora Bruder
- Empires at War [Three Volumes]: A Chronological Encyclopedia
- Employment, Labor Unions and Wages (Economists of the Twentieth Century)
- Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom (Jossey Bass Higher and Adult Education Series)
- Extraordinary Knowing: Science, Skepticism, and the Inexplicable Powers of the Human Mind
- Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna (National Geographic)
- Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change
- Fight Back: Tackling Terrorism, Liddy Style
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Practical Guide to U.S. Taxation of International Transactions, Fifth Edition
- Creative Cloth Doll Beading: Designing and Embellishing with Beads
- Who's Hiring 2003: Canada's 5000 Fastest-Growing Employers in 61 Major Occupations
- Weather wisdom: Being an illustrated practical volume wherein is contained unique compilation and an
- All You Need Is Ears: The inside personal story of the genius who created The Beatles
- Don Quijote de la Mancha
- Animals as Guides for the Soul: Stories of Life-Changing Encounters
- Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America
- Update Edition of College Accounting Student Edition Chapters 1-25 w/ NT & PW
- World Bank Atlas 2002 and the Little Data Book 2002
Hispanic & Latino
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
The Team That Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates
Johnny U: The Life and Times of John Unitas
Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich
Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports
