Neither immigrants nor ethnics, neither foreign nor "hyphenated Americans" in the usual sense of that term, Puerto Ricans in New York have created a distinct identity both on the island of Puerto Rico and in the cultural landscape of the United States. Juan Flores considers the uniqueness of Puerto Rican culture and identity in relation to that of other Latino groups in the United States-as well as to other minority groups, especially African Americans. Architecture and urban space, literary traditions, musical styles, and cultural movements provide some of the sites and moments of a cultural world defined by the interplay of continuity and transformation, heritage and innovation, roots and fusion. Exploring this wide range of cultural expression-both in the diaspora and in Puerto Rico-Flores highlights the rich complexities and fertile contradictions of Latino identity.

In his eloquent essay collection... Flores has compiled a decade of research and meditations on 'America's fastest-growing minority,' Latinos. -- Suzy Hansen New York Times Book Review Well written and informative. Anyone wanting insight into Puerto Rican history and culture will find it enlightening. The book also offers solid supplemental reading for graduate or advanced undergraduate students in music history, Puerto Rican history, cultural studies, and sociology classes. Hispanic Outlook Flores's invaluable book establishes a new parameter for the field of Latino/a studies. Poignant and full of moving accounts, this volume does an inestimable service to both scholars and general readers. Choice The latest work by Juan Flores, the most prominent thinker on the most current topics debated in Latino studies...indispensable. -- Zaragosa Vargas Journal of American History

Juan Flores is professor of Black and Puerto Rican studies at Hunter College and professor of sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center, and has written and lectured widely on the subject of Puerto Rican and Latino culture. His publications include Divided Borders: Essays on Puerto Rican Culture and La venganza de Cortijo y otros ensayos.