This book is a collection of classic articles on Puerto Rican women, the Young Lords, Latin music, the struggle for local political control, spiritualism, the struggles within the Catholic church, the Puerto Rican Day Parade race within ethnicity, political activism, the economy, and a beginning critique of the conceptual models and methods used to "measure" the quality of life among Puerto Ricans.

The book continues to resonate with readers in part because it mirrors the experiences of other groups, both past and more recent immigrant groups; and in part because, when the authors wrote their essays, they spoke honestly about issues they cared about but others tended to ignore. As the editors' new introductions to each article indicate, the anthology has also served as a spring from which other works have developed.

The issues then addressed continue to be at the core of the discourse and community life today.