First published in 1983, this book remains the only full-length study documenting the historical development of the Puerto Rican community in the United States. Expanded to bring it up to the present, Virginia Sánchez Korrol's work traces the growth of the early Puerto Rican settlements—"colonias"—into the unique, vibrant, and well-defined community of today.

"This is a long-needed book for which we have been waiting. It fills the gap in the history of the Puerto Rican experience in New York City, and fills it very well."—Joseph P. Kirkpatrick, Journal of American Ethnic History