I thank the Puerto Rican Cultural Center for sponsoring my book tour to Puerto Rico. I especially thank José López for setting up the programs and giving me an excellent tour of Viejo San Juan and Juan Calderon and Wilfredo Santana, who accompanied us and made the traveling easy and enjoyable. I presented my book, Solidarity Across the Americas: The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and Anti-imperialism (University of North Carolina Press, April 2023), in three different venues and for two nights at the annual Festival de Claridad. The first event was on May 3 at the Fundación Rafael Hernández Colón in the beautiful city of Ponce. César Hernández Colón organized the event and Enrique Ayoroa Santaliz, one of the foremost scholars and writers on the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, graciously presented my book to an appreciative audience.
On May 4 the Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte at the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras hosted the next book presentation, which the Centro de Investigaciones Históricas de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras co-sponsored. Flavia Marcial, the Museum’s director, opened the event and José Manuel Dávila Marcial, who has written on the Nationalists, introduced the book. The audience, which consisted of professors and students, then engaged in a dynamic and far-ranging discussion about the book and related topics. That evening Che Paralitici, an eminent historian and author of numerous books, introduced my book at the Ateneo, Puerto Rico’s oldest cultural institution. I was happy to personally give Don Heriberto, one of the few surviving Nationalists, a signed copy of my book to thank him for the many ways he had helped me when I wrote the book. To top off the three successful programs, I sold the book two nights at the annual Festival de Claridad, a large, joyous celebration of Puerto Rican culture, history, and food.
