by Alfredo Lopez
South End Press
1987
SKU: 9780896082571
“I thought it was a curse from the devil,” Doña Licha laughed, her smooth face opening to show a full mouth of white teeth. “I just stood on the shore with my three children who have families of their own and who all fish with me and we just watched the fish on the sand. It looked like a plague on my life. I cried for days. I thought we were finished. For us, fish are life. I can feel when they are biting. My heart beats faster. It's like some communication with them.”—Doña Licha, excerpted from the book
López examines the history of Puerto Rico from the extermination of the native Taino population, the importation of African slaves, and Spanish colonial culture, to the contemporary labor, student, and women’s movements, and the debates over statehood versus independence.
“A well written investigation.”—Library Journal