History : Caribbean & West Indies

Salsa is one of the most popular types of music listened to and danced to in the United States. Until now, the single comprehensive history of the music--and the industry that grew up around it, including musicians, performances, styles, movements, and production--was available only in Spanish. This lively translation provides for English-reading and music-loving fans the chance to enjoy César Miguel Rondón's celebrated El libro de la salsa . For this first English-language edition, Rondón has added a new chapter to bring the story of salsa up to the present. more...

Price: $21.95

How are recent minority immigrant groups faring in the political adjustment to the United States? Is racism still a serious obstacle to their political inclusion? This book details and explores the political experiences of Afro-Caribbean immigrants in New York City to answer these questions. more...

Price: $22.00

Native American cultures of Puerto Rico prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1493.A book on the prehistory of a modern geopolitical entity is artificial. It is unlikely that prehistoric occupants recognized the same boundaries and responded to the same political forces that operated in the formation of current nations, states, or cities. Yet, archaeologists traditionally have produced such volumes and they generally represent anchors for ongoing research in a specific region, in this case the island of Puerto Rico, its immediate neighbors, and the wider Caribbean basin. To varying degrees, this work addresses issues and draws data from beyond the boundaries of Puerto Rico because in prehistoric times the water between islands likely was not viewed as a boundary in our modern sense of the term. The last few decades have witnessed a growth of intense archaeological research on the island, from material culture in the form of lithics, ceramics, and rock art; to nutritional, architecture, and environmental studies; to rituals and social patterns; to the aftermath of Conquest. Ancient Borinquen provides a comprehensive overview of recent thinking, new data, syntheses, and insights into current Puerto Rican archaeology, and it reflects and illuminates similar concerns elsewhere in the West Indies, lowland South America, and Central America. Peter E. Siegel is a Principal Archaeologist and Senior Project Manager with John Milner Associates, a cultural heritage management firm specializing in archaeology, architecture, and planning.With Contributions By: Karen F. Anderson-Córdova, Susan D. deFrance, John G. Jones, Lee A. Newsom, José R. Oliver, Deborah M. Pearsall, Reniel Rodríguez Ramos, Peter G. Roe, Peter E. Siegel, Anne V. Stokes, Joshua M. Torres, Daniel P. Wagner, Jeff Walker more...

Price: $29.56

A unique history of Cuba, captured in the life and times of the famous rum dynasty. The Bacardis of Cuba, builders of a rum distillery and a worldwide brand, came of age with their nation and helped define what it meant to be Cuban. Across five generations, the Bacardi family has held fast to its Cuban identity, even in exile from the country for whose freedom they once fought. Now National Public Radio correspondent Tom Gjelten tells the dramatic story of one family, its business, and its nation, a 150-year tale with the sweep and power of an epic. The Bacardi clan--patriots and bon vivants, entrepreneurs and intellectuals--provided an example of business and civic leadership in its homeland for nearly a century. From the fight for Cuban independence from Spain in the 1860s to the rise of Fidel Castro and beyond, there is no chapter in Cuban history in which the Bacardis have not played a role. In chronicling the saga of this remarkable family and the company that bears its name, Tom Gjelten describes the intersection of business and power, family and politics, community and exile. more...

Price: $17.00

From the author of Chasing Che, the remarkable tale of a group of boys at the heart of Cuba's political and social history. The Boys from Dolores illuminates the elite island society from which Fidel Castro and his brother Raul emerged. The Colegio de Dolores was a Jesuit boarding school in Santiago, Cuba's rich and ancient second city, where Fidel and Raul were educated in the 1930s and '40s. more...

Price: $15.95