The author of this general history on the Dominican Republic, Richard Pattee, is a well-known Canadian Hispanist who has written widely on Latin America. Currently he is a professor of Hispanic History and Letters at Laval University in Quebec. The work hits upon many of the high points of Dominican history from the Columbus period to 1963, but it is put together in such a way that the overall impression is one of disorganization and fragmentation.

After an introductory chapter on geography the first half of the book is devoted to a history of the republic from colonial times to 1961, with a special chapter devoted to the North American occupation. The second half of the book is divided into chapters on economics, foreign relations, church, education, and Dominican literature. A two-and-a-half page epilogue sums up Dominican history from 1960 to 1963. It is indeed disappointing that a book published late in 1967 should leave the last seven years of the nation practically untouched.

Although fairly representative selections of standard references are cited in the text, Pattee tends to accept statements of apologists for the Trujillo regime uncritically. He mentions Trujillo often but never presents a really complete account of the dictator’s impact upon the Republic. Errors slip in—the date of Trujillo’s assassination, for instance, is given as May 30, 1960 (p. 343), although the event took place in 1961.

The merit of the book lies in its generally objective presentation of Dominicana, with footnotes and an extensive bibliography. On the other hand, by attempting to cover broadly so many facets of Dominican history, geography, economics, literature, religion, and education, the author has produced a book of facts rather than a cohesive account of Dominican history.