"Since its first publication over forty years ago Puerto Rico: Freedom and Power in the Caribbean by Gordon K. Lewis has established itself, and even today, remains the definitive book on that Caribbean island. Lewis treats the subject historically and descriptively; on the one hand, it is an account of Puerto Rico as a colony, first under Spain and after 1898, under the United States. On the other hand, it is a systematic analysis of contemporary Puerto Rican life, including its politics, economic organisation and socio-political make-up, which is as relevant for this new edition as it was forty years ago. The book is also an in-depth attempt to show the political, social, cultural and even the psychological dimensions of American imperialism, rather than a mere case study of US Federalism or as a so-called 'showcase of democracy'."--BOOK JACKET.