A crucial, clear-eyed accounting of Puerto Rico's 122 years as a
colony of the US.
Two years after Hurricane María, Puerto Rico is still reeling from
the storm's physical destruction and the ensuing infrastructure
collapse. The devastation compounded the harmful effects of over a
century of exploitative US economic, political, and social policies,
including the trauma inflicted by its $72 billion debt crisis.
In Fantasy
Island, Ed Morales traces how, over the years, Puerto Rico has
served as a colonial satellite, a Cold War Caribbean showcase, a
dumping ground for US manufactured goods, and a corporate tax
shelter. He also shows how it has become a blank canvas for mercenary
experiments in disaster capitalism on the front lines of climate
change, hamstrung by internal political corruption and the US federal
government's prioritization of outside financial interests.
Taking readers from
San Juan to New York City and back to his family's home in the
Luquillo Mountains, Morales shows us the machinations of financial
and political interests in both the US and Puerto Rico, and the
resistance efforts of Puerto Rican artists and activists. Through it
all, he emphasizes that the only way to stop Puerto Rico from being
bled dry is to let Puerto Ricans take control of their own destiny,
going beyond the statehood-commonwealth-independence debate to
complete decolonization.
