Books about Dominican identity

There are two books worth reading if you want to understand well the Dominican identity and personality.

The first is Black Behind the Ears by Geinetta E.B. Candelario. This book gives an in depth understanding of the Dominican sense of themselves. Candelario is a professor of Sociology and Latin American Studies at Smith College. Parts of the book are a bit dense and college-oriented, but skip those parts if you care to and read only the more direct explanations. It's worth the read.

The other book I will recommend today is The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Oscar Diaz.
This book is quite a bit spicy and racy in its sexuality at times. One comment is that it requires a highly flammable warning. But again, worth the read. The book has won the Pulitzer Prize and been translated into 24 languages. I have been reading it in English and Spanish at the same time. The Spanish translation comes no where near the original English text in its power of language and graphic descriptions, but helps me get a handle on Dominican slang.
Without reading it first, I gave the Spanish edition to the Mother Superior when she was here. Should be an education and a half for this Argentinean sister. Glad it is not as descriptive in Spanish as it is in English!

~P.Ron

Suggested reading:

In the New Testament Jesus says the poor you will always have with you. Given the economy of his time and that of ours, those words are true, but need they continue to be? Muhammad Yunus in his book, Creating a World Without Poverty, demonstrates a way through.
Yunus speaks not just from theory, but theory put into actions that prove his theory. Yunus includes data and statistics to support his theory for those who need them.
Creating a World Without Poverty in paperback for ten dollars and change.

As some of you know my favorite book about Jesus is not the one written by Himself, Benedict XVI, but by Jose Antonio Pagola. Pagola's book has yet to be published in English, but has gone through eight publications in less than 12 months. I don’t know why it has yet to appear in English.

But in the meanwhile I would recommend, What Jesus Meant, by Garry Wills . This book is also in paperback. Wills' text is in the spirit of my favorite book about Jesus, though not as in depth.
If it wets your appetite for more accurate knowledge about Jesus follow up with The First Paul by Marcus J.Borg and John Dominic Crossan.