-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
A Graphic History
by John Vasquez Mejias
Told as a fable, in which the leaders of the movement are visited by the ghosts of Michael Collins and Gandhi, this book showcases an important and often overlooked moment in American history and a historical touchstone for the Puerto Rican independence movement.
Rendered in gorgeously carved wood blocks and buffeted with historical supplemental material, John Vasquez Mejias's The Puerto Rican War tells the story of the 1950 insurrection on the island that resulted in 38 deaths and a failed assassination attempt against President Harry S. Truman.
"Mejias's painstakingly hand-carved woodblock art results in vibrant, detailed scenes that lend a poetic touch throughout. This impressive work of art brings history to full and fascinating life." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The woodblock method lends density and gravitas to the work that command attention; each centimeter of each panel is rich in visual detail, inviting readers to linger over the page….A brilliant blend of graphic and literary narration and a lovely work of art in itself." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Mejias brilliantly weaves his heavy, saturated, and stunningly beautiful woodblock method with common comics tropes, as in an entire narrow panel filled with firefight sound effects—'PEW TANG ZANG BANG PIM PLIP ZAP BUM ZOP.' —Booklist (starred review)
This information about The Puerto Rican War was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
John Vasquez Mejias is a visual artist and high school art teacher in the Bronx. He regularly produces zines, comics, and performs hand-crafted puppet shows and theater events based on The Puerto Rican War and other subjects. The self-published version of The Puerto Rican War is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Library.
If you liked The Puerto Rican War, try these:
by Greg Grandin
Published 2026
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian, the first comprehensive history of the Western Hemisphere, a sweeping five-century narrative of North and South America that redefines our understanding of both.
by John Manuel. Arias
Published 2024
A lush and lyrical debut novel about a Costa Rican family wrestling with a deadly secret, from rising literary star John Manuel Arias
by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo
Published 2020
This unforgettable memoir from a prize-winning poet about growing up undocumented in the United States recounts the sorrows and joys of a family torn apart by draconian policies and chronicles one young man's attempt to build a future in a nation that denies his existence.
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
