“Ayala makes an important contribution to Caribbean economic history with this comparative study of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. . . . An original work of tremendous interest to scholars concerned with Caribbean history, economic geography, corporate agriculture, and the political economy of development.” — Cuban Studies
“Ayala has produced an accessible study of sugar in the Spanish Caribbean that will appeal to a broad audience of readers ranging from advanced undergraduates to economists, political scientists, and area specialists. Useful tables and clear, concise maps as well as detailed endnotes and an ample bibliography make this book a valuable reference tool not only for Latin Americanists, but also for anyone with interests as diverse as comparative colonialism and global economics.” — Americas
“As meticulous in its research as it is evocative in its approach, Ayala’s book is, without doubt, a significant contribution to the complex problem of the Caribbean plantation.” — Journal of American History
“Both a contribution to the study of the sugar industry in the Caribbean and an examination of the processes of American imperialism in this tropical setting. . . . An excellent book that deserves a wide readership.” — American Historical Review
“[This book] is a very welcome addition to the historiography of the Caribbean and to development-underdevelopment theory.” — Business History Review
“[This book] excels in providing a coherent comparative analysis of capitalist underdevelopment in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.” — Latin American Research Review
“An outstanding book. . . . This ambitious project required the author to keep straight the complex interactions of U.S. producers, island sugar systems, and other competitors at a time of major political changes in the U.S. and the Caribbean. Through careful attention to the development of argument, evidence, and context, the author accomplishes this with style, economy, and unusual clarity. . . . A model for academic discourse.” — CHOICE
“As scholars move toward work that encompasses whole sectors of the colonial world, it becomes necessary to look at epochs and industries in much the same way. Ayala has done yeoman work in helping us to see how variation in the imperialist enterprise arose from important local differences within the Hispanophone Caribbean. But he also shows how certain regularities (such as wage labor) could surmount local distinctiveness. A handsome addition to our understanding of imperialist and Hispanic history and, of course, of the North American thrust.” — Sidney W. Mintz, author of Worker in the Cane
“This book fills a sensible void in the historiographies of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean in the first half of the twentieth century and of the U.S. sugar business during its phases of expansion and consolidation. Marshaling evidence and insights from primary sources and a wide array of secondary literatures, Ayala weaves a fascinating narrative about the making of an international sugar plantation complex. We had previously only seen the general outlines of the story and a few details for individual countries. Now we are treated to the overall sweep, and it is most gratifying.” — Francisco A. Scarano, University of Wisconsin–Madison
