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Reseñas de Battleship Vieques
Outstanding Academic Book of the Year 2011.
-- Choice Magazine |
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"Ayala (UCLA) is one of the rising stars in Puerto Rican studies, and Battleship Vieques is an excellent and important addition to his growing body of work (much of it, like this book, coauthored with others in evidently quite productive collaborations). Using documentary and interview sources, the authors masterfully weave together the political, economic, military, and personal historical dimensions that have entwined the US and Puerto Rico in the small island of Vieques through the naval base established there at the beginning of WW II, only recently closed down after protracted protests in all three locales. The impressive detail may be a bit overwhelming for readers not comfortable with economic history and/or island history, but the writing is clearer and much more enjoyable than much work in the genre, and the story and narrative are compelling. The book nicely complements recent studies of the protests (e.g., Katherine T. McCaffrey's Military Power and Popular Protest, CH, Jan'03, 40-2968a, and Mario Murillo's Islands of Resistance, 2001). An important addition in military/naval history and US military policy as well as Caribbean and Puerto Rican studies. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries."
-- F. W. Gleach, Cornell University, CHOICE
"Battleship Vieques: Puerto Rico from World War II to the Korean War is a critical close study of the repercussions of the U.S. Navy's decision to essentially take over the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. When German U-boats sank more ships in the Caribbean than anywhere else, the American government resolved to turn the island of Vieques into an "unsinkable battleship"; the navy appropriated two-thirds of the island's land, ignoring the cultural traditions of the local Puerto Rican population, forcibly relocating residents, introducing racial discrimination, and destroying the local economy. Battleship Vieques scrutinizes the ruthless occupation during and after World War II in fine detail, exploring the roots of the demonstrations that would eventually force the U.S. Navy out in 2003. A brief survey of long-term consequences of the Vieques occupation rounds out this sober and eye-opening account, highly recommended especially for world and naval history shelves."
-- The Midwest Book Review
""This book exposes the plight of a defenseless population, the inability of the government of Puerto Rico to act, and the impunity with which an island was destroyed over six decades. Included are an epilogue, a bibliography, tables and charts, and an index. . . . This [is a] well documented and well written book.""
-- El Nuevo Dia
Deborah Berman Santana, "" Centro: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies 24(2) (2012): 224-227.
Carmen Dolores Hernández, "Historia de un abuso: la odisea de Vieques se analiza y se examina aquí junto con los efectos a largo plazo de la actuación de la Marina," El Nuevo Dia, domingo, 15 de enero de 2012.
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