As Jay Kinsbruner’s title and subtitle suggest, the focus of his study is colonial Spanish American “urban life” in what he calls the “Age of Atlantic Capitalism.” According to the author’s implicit definition of this time period and the themes on which he concentrates, it seems that this age begins in the mid – eighteenth century, running up to and beyond the late colonial period. This period also coincides with the great majority of the author’s previous research on urban themes, including pulperos (small retail grocers), petty capitalism, and race relations in nineteenth-century Puerto Rico.
In the opening chapters Kinsbruner briefly discusses the Iberian origins of Spanish American colonial cities, as well as pre-Columbian urbanism. He also provides some background on the founding of colonial cities and suggests (as with the founding of cities in the Iberian reconquista) that the conquistadors founded many Spanish American cities where they would...
