“Wonderful.”
— Newsweek
“A landmark in Puerto Rican emigration studies.”
— New West Indian Guide
“This book is intended as a positive alternative to much testimonial literature about Puerto Ricans/Nuyoricans in which they appear as passive victims … The sad absurdity of racial and cultural prejudice is illuminated. … Highly recommended.”
— Library Journal
“Benjy is a good antidote to those who believe that the culture of poverty concept is all but divinely inspired … Valuable research, excellent writing.”
— Raymond E. Crist, Latin America in Books
“Bringing to Lopez’s story advanced instruments of social science, an effective interpretative scheme, and a solid sociological background, Levine has rescued Third World man from indignity … Few works will better demonstrate the circumstances of the Puerto Rican in New York than this one by Levine.”
— Miguel Barnet, Caribbean Review
“A rare work about the Puerto Rican diaspora that leaves the reader on the whole more cheerful when he finishes reading than when he started.”
— Americas
“A labor of love for Puerto Rico.”
— Nuestro
“Benjy’s story is much more interesting and refreshing than the countless one-dimensional sociological studies of Caribbean and Latin American emigrants to the U.S., or Mediterranean emigrants to Western Europe.”
— Times of the Americas
“[Benjy’s life] opens the reader’s eyes to the problems and challenges, the pain and frustration of life as a Puerto Rican in the big metropolis.”
— Contemporary Sociology
“An attempt to redress the balance in the sociological literature about Puerto Ricans … providing a more balanced view of Puerto Rican migrants and of the acculturation process.”
— Frank Fernández, Revista Interamericana
“A good read.”
— Caribbean Studies Journal
“Stupendous. A very human document about a very human being.”
— Bijdragen
“Levine’s simpatico study reveals unique kinds of resourcefulness and suffering that elevate Benjy from a ‘type’ into a subject of human concern.”
— Choice
“What Levine seems to be pointing out … is that the migratory experience … sharpens the migrant’s ability to deal with life situations successfully.”
— Eugene Mohr, The Nuyorican Experience
“Barry Levine has that increasingly rare gift, the sociological ear. In this book we have the result of his listening—patiently, sensitively, with a fine feeling for nuance to what I’m sure must be one of the most colorful characters in sociological literature.”
— Peter L. Berger