Product Description
In this groundbreaking study of American imperialism, leading legal scholars address the problem of the U.S. territories. “Foreign in a Domestic Sense” will redefine the boundaries of constitutional scholarship.

More than four million U.S. citizens currently live in five “unincorporated” U.S. territories. The inhabitants of these vestiges of an American empire are denied full representation in Congress and cannot vote in presidential elections. Focusing on Puerto Rico, the largest and most populous of the territories, “Foreign in a Domestic Sense” sheds much-needed light on the United States’ unfinished colonial experiment and its legacy of racially rooted imperialism, while insisting on the centrality of these “marginal” regions in any serious treatment of American constitutional history. For one hundred years, Puerto Ricans have struggled to define their place in a nation that neither wants them nor wants to let them go, caught in a debate too politicized to yield meaningful answers. Meanwhile, doubts concerning the constitutionality of keeping colonies have languished on the margins of mainstream scholarship, overlooked by scholars outside the island and ignored by the nation at l!arge.

This book does more than simply fill a glaring omission in the study of race, cultural identity, and the Constitution; it also makes a crucial contribution to the study of American federalism, serves as a foundation for substantive debate on Puerto Rico’s status, and meets an urgent need for dialogue on territorial status between the mainlandd and the territories.Contributors. José Julián Álvarez González, Roberto Aponte Toro, Christina Duffy Burnett, José A. Cabranes, Sanford Levinson, Burke Marshall, Gerald L. Neuman, Angel R. Oquendo, Juan Perea, Efrén Rivera Ramos, Rogers M. Smith, E. Robert Statham Jr., Brook Thomas, Richard Thornburgh, Juan R. Torruella, José Trías Monge, Mark Tushnet, Mark Weiner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO READ THE REAL PERSPECTIVE
THIS IS AN ENGAGING AND EFFECTIVE WAY TO PRESENT THE ETHIOLOGY OF A DILEMA THAT HAS BEEN OUT OF FOCUS FOR ONE HUNDRED YEARS. THE EDITORS HAVE CHOSEN A VARIED SPECTRUM OF VIEWS, AND IT IS THROUGH THESE DIFFERENT LENSES THAT THE ISSUE SHOULD BE DISCUSSED.

Fundamental analysis
If you need to read about Puerto Rico or are doing research, this should be your first stop. This book is the most comprehensive and well documented book ever written on the legal situation of Puerto Rico.Anybody who has anything to do with the island needs to read this book first. ... Read more