Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review“
Puerto Ricans in the Empire provides an excellent introduction to Puerto Rico’s crucial tobacco industry, with fascinating material on farmer organizations and agricultural research."
-- Herbert S. Klein * Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History Columbia University *
"Levy shows that even within the framework of U.S. colonialism, tobacco farmers proliferated, prospered, and advanced their interest, and were thus makers of their own history. This is a salutary correction to the one sided vision of the colonial regime of previous scholarship." -- César Ayala * University of California, Los Angeles *
"Levy offers a well-documented, nuanced revision of post-1898 Puerto Rican economic history. By focusing on tobacco rather than sugar cultivation, Levy argues, Puerto Rican tobacco farmers, despite clear power imbalances, did influence certain aspects of US colonial policy, including the political structure, changes in legislation directly affecting the island, and the transfer of technology. She effectively exposes the silences produced by a historical narrative that until now has focused mainly on the unilateral action of the US. Highly recommended." * Choice *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1 The Development of the Tobacco Economy
2 Life in the Tobacco Regions
3 Politics: Tobacco Growers and Agricultural Organizations
4 Law: The Extension of Federal Agricultural Credit Legislation to Puerto Rico
5 Technology: The Science of Tobacco
