A panoramic history of Puerto Rico from pre-Columbian times to today "The changing figuration of the nation that Meléndez-Badillo writes about has been nothing more than a precise response to the challenges imposed by the arbitrary gaze of those who introduced the place we call Puerto Rico into the European-Western cultural and material circuits.... The nation is an impulse that responds to the challenges of those diverse modernities to which communities are introduced: it is an act of resistance…. The “history of a nation” that [Meléndez-Badillo] claims as his own is something more than a mere academic exercise. It is true that the nation is formulated through “history,” but it is also a lived experience. Puerto Rico...is a work that deserves numerous readings. I hope mine will help stimulate a broader discussion on the subject."---Mario Cancel Sepúlveda, Siglo 22