A native of Wales, Dr. Lewis first came to Puerto Rico to help write its first Constitution, which was adopted in 1952. He earned his doctorate in 1954 at Harvard University and then returned to Puerto Rico.
He joined the political science department at the University of Puerto Rico in the 1950’s and served as director of the university’s Institute of Caribbean Studies from 1983 to 1987.
He had been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, the University of California, Brandeis University, Oxford University and Michigan State University. He served as a consultant to the governments of Trinidad and Tobago and the United States Virgin Islands.
Some of his books:
The Contemporary Caribbean : a general overview, Washington, D.C. : Latin American Program, The Woodrow Wilson, International Center for Scholars, 1985
“Gather with the Saints at the River” : the Jonestown Guyana holocaust of 1978 : a descriptive and interpretative essay on its ultimate meaning from a Caribbean viewpoint, Río Piedras, P.R. : Institute of Caribbean Studies, University of
Puerto Rico, 1979
Grenada : the jewel despoiled, Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987
The Growth of the Modern West Indies, Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, c1983
Main Currents in Caribbean thought : the historical evolution of Caribbean society in its ideological aspects, 1492-1900, Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983
The Making of a Caribbeanist, San Germán, P.R. : Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, 1983
Puerto Rico : a case study in the problems of contemporary American federalism, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad: Office of the Premier of Trinidad and
Tobago, 1960
Puerto Rico : freedom and power in the Caribbean, New York : Monthly Review Press, 1974.
Roots of Revolution : Gairy and Gairyism in Grenada, San Germán : Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, Centro de Investigaciones del Caribe y América Latina, 1986.
Slavery, Imperialism and Freedom : studies in English radical thought, New York ; London : Monthly Review Press, 1978
The Virgin Islands : a Caribbean Lilliput, Evanston : Northwestern University Press, 1972.