“[A] most welcome addition to the still relatively limited literature on the free persons of color in the slave societies of America and should be required reading for all those interested in these themes. . . . [A]dmirably written, analyzed and argued. . . .” - Herbert S. Klein , Hispanic American Historical Review
“[M]akes a needed addition to the scanty bibliography on Afro-Puerto Ricans. Kinsbruner is particularly illuminating in describing the contradictions and the double talk that has characterized Puerto Rican racial attitudes. . . . Not of Pure Blood is significant because it opens a new line of inquiry into a forgotten part of the Puerto Rican population. This work reminds social historians that when it comes to race relations, there is no such thing as Puerto Rican exceptionalism.” - José O. Díaz , Latin American Research Review
“Jay Kinsbruner has written a statistically sophisticated study on a topic neglected, until recently, by many Puerto Rican scholars: the relationship between racism and opportunity. . . . Kinsbruner’s book is methodologically sound, well-researched, and innovative. It is also one of the few in-depth studies of the lives of free people of color in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.” - Felix V. Matos Rodriguez , The Historian
“Kinsbruner’s book is a welcome addition to the history of race relations. It is an engaging examination of racial prejudice in a society that has claimed to be colorblind.” - Aline Helg, American Historical Review
“Not of Pure Blood is an ambitiously extended study of the free people of color in the slave society of Puerto Rico. Adding much to the emerging body of illuminating literature about life and culture both during the slave period and after, it makes possible many useful comparisons between the free people of color on that island and their counterparts in other corners of the Caribbean.” - David Barry Gaspar, Duke University
“Kinsbruner’s work is important on two counts. First, it takes up the challenge of defining racial prejudice in a Spanish Caribbean context—a daunting exercise. Second, it applies sophisticated statistical instruments to measure the extent of that prejudice.” - Teresita Martínez Vergne, Macalester College
