Vanquished - (Latin America in Translation/En Traducción/Em Tradução) by César Andreu Iglesias (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published in Puerto Rico in 1956, this action-packed novel follows the lives of three men who plot a terrorist action against the US presence in Puerto Rico.

Book Synopsis

Originally published in Puerto Rico in 1956 as Los derrotados, César Andreu Iglesias's novel about a fateful Nationalist assault on a U.S. military installation in Puerto Rico is now available for the first time in English.

This tautly written story uncovers the personal histories of three middle-aged revolutionaries as they plan to kill a U.S. general. Andreu's cool treatment of their political objectives does not obscure his compassionate recognition of their human limitations. Andreu makes clear his view that the Nationalist answer to Puerto Rico's problems had become an anachronism and that by the 1950s the union movement was better prepared to deal with the changes that industrial capitalism was thrusting upon the Puerto Rican people and their way of life. The afterword by Arcadio Díaz-Quiñones provides a rich historical and literary context for The Vanquished.

Review Quotes

Faithful to the historical setting, in which traditional colonial life was giving way to industrial capitalism, this compelling novel will be read gainfully by students of the Caribbean, Latin America, and twentieth-century anti-colonialist struggles in a variety of settings. (Francisco A. Scarano, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

About the Author

César Andreu Iglesias (1915-1976), a prominent intellectual and journalist known for his sophisticated writings on colonial politics and the Puerto Rican labor movement, was editor of The Memoirs of Bernardo Vega. The Vanquished is the first of his works to be translated into English. Sidney W. Mintz is emeritus professor of anthropology at The Johns Hopkins University and author of Worker in the Cane, Caribbean Transformations, Sweetness and Power, and Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom.