“Pirate Novels is a well-written and well-documented approach to a corpus of historical fictions which have not previously been the focus of sustained critical attention. Nina Gerassi-Navarro’s contribution to studies of the nineteenth-century historical novel will undoubtedly be of tremendous use to scholars in this field.” - Kimberle S. López , Colonial Latin American Historical Review
“Pirate Novels undoubtedly opens up a new field of research, sheds light onto a problem, and onto a parcel of the Spanish American literary corpus quite left in the dark. This book will turn out to be a seminal text from which a distinctive body of scholarship may grow.” - Juan Pablo Dabove , Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies
“Gerassi-Navarro has engaged with the literature intelligently and has presented her arguments with skill. She makes a persuasive case for the reexamination of nineteenth-century pirate novels as illustrative of the deep conflicts and contradictions at the heart of the nation building process in Spanish America.” - Lynn Walford , South Eastern Latin Americanist
“Gerassi-Navarro has uncovered some overlooked or unappreciated nineteenth-century melodramatic historical novels focusing on pirates. And she’s provided an imaginative and intriguing interpretation suggesting that these too should be given serious consideration as influential tools deliberately intended by their authors to help build cultural and political nationalism in their respective states. . . . Persuasive. . . .” - Charles W. Macune Jr. , Hispanic American Historical Review
“Nineteenth-century Spanish American writers are not as well-known as their mid-twentieth-century counterparts, so this study gives scholars a look at some authors who merit more scrutiny. At the same time, the reader learns much about political and social issues that concerned post-independence Spanish America—nationalism, racism, the caste and class system, gender.” - S. T. Clark , Choice
“Too long overlooked, the pirate fictions examined in this perceptive book represent a significant contribution to the literary corpus on which recent studies on nation building have focused when analysing post-independence literature in Spanish America. - Donna Fitzgerald , Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
"Fascinating and well-researched. . . ." - British Bulletin of Publications on Latin America
"In the wake of a recent proliferation of books about pirates swarming the literary marketplace comes a refreshingly new approach to the subject. . . . Pirate Novels is both scholarly and engaging, with extensive documentation and a useful bibliography. The affordable paperback edition could serve as a topical college text in literature, history, or political science." - Peter R. Galvin , Colonial Latin American Review
“Gerassi-Navarro dares to look at an important blindspot in the construction of modern nations: our cultural and political connections to piracy.” - Doris Sommer, editor of The Places of History: Regionalism Revisited in Latin America
“Marvelously readable and engaging, this is first-rate, original scholarship with an unusual perspective on 19th century Hispanic American society, a perspective made utterly convincing, fascinating, and important.” - Mary G. Berg, Harvard University
