The essays in this book deal with continuity and change in Puerto Rico and together constitute a delightful San Juan reader from a thoughtful historian's point of view. The themes range from Puerto Rican events as seen from Paris, to politics encompassing the harassment of Puerto Rican dissenters in the early 1970's and the proliferation of referenda on the island, to lyrical descriptions of the disappearance of rural landscapes and cultural traditions. The author describes bus riding etiquette and documents how neighborhoods are changing. He talks to older Puerto Ricans and records their descriptions and anecdotes, discovers old picture books and reflects on turning points in Puerto Rican history, ponders street names, and documents famous and forgotten prisoners and prisons. The book is a unique window onto San Juan's glorious cultural mosaic. Fernando Picó began his career as a columnist, from the early 1970's to the 1980's, for the leading English-language newspaper in Puerto Rico, The San Juan Star. He is Puerto Rico's leading historian and the author of over twenty books in Spanish, several of which have been translated into English. Picó spent much of the 1970s and 1980s as a columnist for The San Juan Star, the recently defunct English-language daily newspaper of Puerto Rico, where he wrote regularly on Puerto Rican politics and history. This volume collects 72 of his writings from that era, addressing a wide range of issues, including ongoing debates concerning the political status of the island vis-à-vis the United States, nostalgic memories of the Puerto Rican rural past, ecological degradation from agriculture, Puerto Rican cultural heritage, Puerto Rican educational institutions, and more. Many of the columns consist of anecdotal stories intended to highlight this or that facet of Puerto Rican life --Book News "Puerto Rico Inside and Out: Changes and Continuities is an anthology of essays by historian and columnist Fernando Pico, covering topics ranging from police harassment of Puerto Rican dissenters in the early 1970's to in-depth portraits of how Puerto Rican rural landscapes and cultural traditions have been vanishing. Most of the essays span the years from 1969-1980 (only four essays reminisce from later vantage points up to 1987); are from an up-close and personal perspective, while others reflect from the vantage point of Paris, France. An unforgettable glimpse into the extraordinary diversity of cultures that compose Puerto Rico in general and San Juan in particular, Puerto Rico Inside and Out is highly recommended." --Midwest Book Review "Picó spent much of the 1970s and 1980s as a columnist for The San Juan Star, the recently defunct English-language daily newspaper of Puerto Rico, where he wrote regularly on Puerto Rican politics and history. This volume collects 72 of his writings from that era, addressing a wide range of issues, including ongoing debates concerning the political status of the island vis-à-vis the United States, nostalgic memories of the Puerto Rican rural past, ecological degradation from agriculture, Puerto Rican cultural heritage, Puerto Rican educational institutions, and more. Many of the columns consist of anecdotal stories intended to highlight this or that facet of Puerto Rican life. --Book News "Picó spent much of the 1970s and 1980s as a columnist for The San Juan Star, the recently defunct English-language daily newspaper of Puerto Rico, where he wrote regularly on Puerto Rican politics and history. This volume collects 72 of his writings from that era, addressing a wide range of issues, including ongoing debates concerning the political status of the island vis-à-vis the United States, nostalgic memories of the Puerto Rican rural past, ecological degradation from agriculture, Puerto Rican cultural heritage, Puerto Rican educational institutions, and more. Many of the columns consist of anecdotal stories intended to highlight this or that facet of Puerto Rican life." --Book News Fernando Pico, University of Puerto Rico, is Puerto Rico's leading historian and author of several books including "Puerto Rico 1898: the War after the War", and "The History of Puerto Rico."