You ask.. you shall receive
IslandBreeze... what university offers a major in Dominican Republic Studies??? It must be a specialty because it is very rare that any University in the US offers a degree in a specific country... maybe a degree with a track of a specific country... but normally not a specific degree. The most specific you can get is a degree in Latin American Studies, at least all the universities I have seen, please share if you know of one, as I would love to find more about there curriculum and possible PH.D programs.
Anyway, to answer your questions, I can think of many books that you can read. I have the majority of them myself and they are all very "intellectual", I use them all avidly in my state of the economics dissertation. Some of them are not specific to the Dominican Republic, but have much useful information in them.
Here you go... get a pen and paper:
1. Foundations of Despotism: Peasants, the Trujillo Regime, and Modernity in Dominican History. By Richard Lee Turits
2. A World Safe for Capitalism. By Cyrus Veeser
3. State and Society in the Dominican Republic (Latin American Perspectives, No 15). By Emelio Betances
4. Columbus's Outpost among the Ta?nos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493-1498. By Jose Maria Cruxent, Kathleen A. Deagan
5. Rag-Tags, Scum, Riff-Raff and Commies: The U.S. Intervention in the Dominican Republic, 1965-1966. By Eric Thomas Chester
6. The Dominican Republic and the United States: From Imperialism to Transnationalism. By G. Pope Atkins
7. Race and Politics in the Dominican Republic. By Ernesto Sagas
8. Between Two Islands: Dominican International Migration. By Sherri Grasmuck, Patricia R. Pessar
9. The Dictator Next Door: The Good Neighbor Policy and the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic, 1930-1945 (American Encounters/Global Interactions). By Eric Paul Roorda
10. Quisqueya LA Bella: The Dominican Republic in Historical and Cultural Perspective (Perspectives on Latin America and the Caribbean). By Alan Cambeira
I could list for hours... but this should keep you busy, so if you need more than that, just let us know. These books will not contain any "fluff" and may be quite difficult to follow if you do not understand certain theories and definitions, however I am sure you will be more than capable!!!