Since 1986 students of Puerto Rican history have benefited from several editions of Fernando Picó’s Historia general de Puerto Rico, which now appears in a welcome English version, updated and translated by the author. Simultaneously, Ediciones Huracán in San Juan has released a new Spanish edition under the original title. Picó is a leading historian of the island, having worked with primary sources and published on various topics and time periods; his knowledge of Puerto Rican historiography is broad and deep. The book is especially recommended for the general public and for use as a core text in undergraduate surveys of Puerto Rican history.
As the subtitle in English implies, the Puerto Rican people, in all their diversity, are placed at the center of Picó’s analysis, and he argues that the processes they initiated “are more important than the decisions made by the ruling figures of the North Atlantic”...
