Caribbean Books

Dr. Pelayo has more insight into this great author than practically anyone else on the planet. Recommended.

The book allowed me to understand the complexity of the plot in One Hundred Years of Solitude. It also provided me with enough historical background information for understanding the short stories within the book. My favorite, however, was the chapter on Love in the Time of Cholera. I fully recommend this book for the reader of Garcia Marquez who lacks the background knowledge on Latin American issues.

This book was both humorous and touching, I read the Duppy and the Lunatic also! this guy is great!!!!!. I can relate to all the character in his books, I know at least one of each character!!!!

"The Lunatic" was my first introduction to the biting wit and uniquely Jamaican sense of humour of Mr. Winkler. His hilarious and bitingly accurate portrayals of the many facets of rural Jamaican life made me an instant Winkler fan, and understandably, raised my expectations and anticipation for his next offering. "The Great Yacht Race" did not dissapoint. Mr.Winkler's tale centers around the lives of five prominent members of Montego Bay's society,and the tragicomic events leading up to the annual regatta - the highpoint of their social lives. The picture Mr. Winkler paints of Pre-independence Jamaica is rich with detail, such as a discussion between the white Jamaican Hotel manager O'Hara and a group of tourists, during which O'Hara casually states that in Jamaica, "Class is more important than colour. If you're the right class, your colour doesn't really matter." (Winkler, P.200) "The Great Yacht Race" is a well written and very entertaining narrative of Jamaican life that will have you laughing out loud, and perhaps make you a bit sad as well. It lived up to my expectations after reading the "Lunatic", and I eagerly await future offerings from Anthony Winkler.

This book provides great insights into Haitian history and how it has influenced the US, and how the US has been a key player in determining Haiti's economic & political fate. The conspiracy theories about how Haiti's misery is largely (though not entirely) due to the meddling and often racist policies of the US government suddenly seem more believable!

Haiti: A Slave Revolution provides a well documented backdrop for the current crisis in Haiti. It clearly exposes the historical role of the governments of France and the US in the destabilization of the country. It lays the basis for the recent kipnapping of Aristide by the US government.

It is a must read for anyone who is interested in the history of Haiti and the role of the US.

I've read this politico-philosophic essay more than 3 times. It contains ideas that could be useful to Haiti or any other troubled country which has to revamp itself.

I've bought one copy of this book from Booksurge LLC. I've found it very informative, and it gives a lot of inspiration.
The book looks into the Haitian predicament from social, economic and historical angles. Then it points at the causes. Finally, it proposes a national political philosophy, which the country needs to become totally viable and self-governing.
I've just ordered 10 more from Booksurge LLC, which is one of your branches. They will be my gifts to close friends and relatives.

The Hands of Day is the seventh bilingual translation of the poetry of Chile-born diplomat and political activist Pablo Neruda (1904-1973). Sixty-seven lyric poems are presented in both their original Spanish and in English. At times the verse dips away from the mundanities of daily life and into the wonders existing just beyond the senses. A poignant collection, tinged with the depth of human emotion and a "must-have" for anyone with an interest in Neruda's classic works. "The Hands of the Days": by the accident of the rose / the hour is born, irascible / or yellow. / Thin layer of volcano, petal of hatred, / carnivorous throat, / such is a day, and the next one / is tenderly, / yes resolutely, a wedding song.

Forty years after its original publication in Spanish, Las Manos del Dia (The Hands of Day) has at last been given the full and complete translation into English it deserves, by Neruda's most sensitive and finest translator, William O'Daly. This publication event should be cause for celebration among Neruda fans and poetry lovers everywhere. O'Daly's translation strikes just the right notes, deftly and delicately conveying (as in six previous and equally magnificent volumes) Neruda's incantatory music, his rhythms, and his vast emotional scope, giving the master's work a new and vital life. This is essential reading for the 21st century.

This novel is sweet and captivating. The story is well written with prose that is almost lyrical. The portrayal of the fictional Guanagaspar gives a vivid and well researched picture of Trinidad in the early twentieth century. This is truly West Indian literature at its best.

I can't believe there are no reviews for this novel. This was a moving story and was very well crafted. The story keeps you and holds you. I'm looking forward to reading more from this outstanding author. Check it out. You will like this novel.

Reviewed by
Dawnny
Mahogany Media Review
Albany, N.Y.

I have lived in Bermuda for 30 years, and saw parts of the island I had never seen before! That is saying something, considering it's only 20 square miles. I've done three of the walks so far with my wife and little toddler in a back pack. Excellent outings for a Sunday hike. And for the tourist here, it will bring you to beautiful parts of the island that you NEVER would have seen otherwise! Good Book!

It is well worth searching out this handbook, which includes routes and maps for 20 walks covering the island of Bermuda. Many of the walks go through trails and neighborhoods that a visitor would otherwise never find. My favorites include the stunning view at Abbott's Cliff, and the quiet landscape at Hog Bay Park.

Having read a lot of general history from Europe to South America to the Middle East, you come to really appreciate someone who can write like a person. Professor Pico, without taking anything from the historical record, manages to write from a perspective of "our" history, and frequently uses that possessive along with the word "we", giving a very involved and intimate feel to the chronology.

Writign history is by nature to at teimes write about some of the dullest, but necessary data in the world. Only a seasoned and talented writer like Professor Pico can actually make the transition from one main crop to another interesting. Never before have I encountered a historian so talented as a writer that he can actually use imagery like a farmer lying in his hammock smoking part of his new crop of tobacco.

Some of the best written parts of this book are; the attempted English invasions, described in crisp detail; the radical movements of the 1960s (although he somehow never mentions the FALN by name);, and the reforms of the semi-enlightened Spanish despot, Pezuela.

I do wish there had been more maps in the book, but this is the only downfall. It can be frustrating to read about places and not be able to know where they are.

Essentially, this is an updated and expanded version of the second edition of the brilliant work published in Spanish in 1986. As with his other publications, Pico demonstrates why he ranks among the most magisterial historians of Puerto Rico. The 16 chapters are arrestingly readable and cover the complex history of Puerto Rico with commendable verbal economy. Pico impressively contextualizes the story by consistently placing Puerto Rico in the wider Caribbean, Atlantic, and Hispanic worlds, and does an excellent job with the main outlines of the local history. The book starts with the geological formation of the island; continues chronologically with a description of the first settlers, their conquest and virtual annihilation; and details the Spanish society and economy constructed after 1493. Like all excellent histories of the Caribbean, this one is inordinately rich on the social aspects of community formation and the inevitable cross-imperial relations that invariably frustrated local administrators.

"Quien toca este libro, toca a un hombre" decía Whitman, y esto se aplica perfectamente a Leaves of Grass, u Hojas de Hierba. Al leer esta obra, una de las principales obras de la poesía universal. Uno puede palpar y casi degustar el canto hermoso y sentido que Whitman hace al mundo que lo rodea (EE.UU. de mediados del XIX), pero que es un canto a todo lo que regala la vida, y todo lo que se puede disfrutar y poetizar de la naturaleza. Sin duda Whitman logra entregarnos una sincera alabanza a la existencia, y a todo lo simple que regala el mundo, lo que comprende especialmente la naturaleza, la gente simple, el contacto con los personajes típicos, como por ejemplo los esclavos de su tiempo. El vigor y la potencia de la voz poética de Whitman, exenta totalmente de racionalismo o intelectualismo filosófico agrio y pesado, no han sido aún superadas por poeta alguno, y Hojas de Hierba es la prueba fehaciente de ello. Un volumen fundamental de la poesía universal, que nos describe uno de los más infatigables alientos poéticos de la historia, infaltable en las bibliotecas de poetas, o bien en la bilbioteca familiar.

Creo que es uno de los mejores libros de poesía americana que he leido

Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia is required reading for anyone interested in the history of Black radicalism in the United States, particularly the singular role played by people of Caribbean descent. Professor James skillfully examines the history and political economy of race relations in the French and Spanish speaking Caribbean. Here is the background of the African Blood Brotherhood led by Cyril Briggs and the Universal Negro Improvement Association led by Marcus Garvey. Moreover, this is the background of the singular Arthur Schomburg (actually Arturo Schomburg) who founded the pivotal Harlem library and research center. There is an important analysis of Hubert H. Harrison's role in inspiring Harlem's Black radicalism. Furthermore, this is the complex history of Jesus Colon's ideas on race and class. In conclusion, this book is essential to an understanding of 20th Black radicalism, modern Black leadership, and the background to Black Power. While we are waiting for Jeff Perry's biography of Hubert H. Harrison, the Black Socrates of the Harlem Renaissance, this is as good as it gets!

Winston James' Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia will clarify our understanding of Afro-Caribbean migrants in the US. It sheds more light on not just Hispanics but non-Hispanics as well.

His thesis is expository. He explains the "scale and determinants of Caribbean migration to the United States and the migrants' political behavior from the turn of the century up to the Great Depression."

Some well-known but poorly constructed and substantiated arguments, advanced by scholars about the political behavior of Caribbeans in their States of origin and as migrants in America are rejected by James. It could well be that literature on the subject--Afro-Caribbeans political views/behaviour--is just sparse. Then James is right, much more scholarly work on the people who came to America from the Caribbean should be done.

The book is fairly comprehensive in its study, by looking beyond the English speaking Caribbean to the Spanish speakers as well, covering the period 1900-1932.

His stated objectives for the book are:

i.) To present historical evidence and analysis to of arguments claiming that Caribbean migrants changed from "conservatism" in the Caribbean to "radicalism" in America;
ii.) To broaden the discussion beyond the Anglophone Caribbean to the Hispanic Caribbean;
iii.) To contribute to the wider understanding of the African Diaspora; and
iv.) To throw new light on the historical and cultural complexity and heterogeneity of the Caribbean Region and variations in it's Diaspora in the USA.

Of the Afro-Cubans in Florida, James tell a beautiful, yet sad story of a community of Cuban tabaqueros, cigar makers, who worked for Vincente Martínez Ybor the Cuban, anti-colonialism cigar producer who established a Cuban cigar factory in Tampa Florida. Some of these workers were leaders in the "Union de Tabaqueros," founded in 1879.

Strong class solidarity existed between whites and Afro-Cubans during this period. This cohesion was reinforced by the leadership of Jose Marti, the Cuban Nationalist who denounced racism and attempted to militarily remove the Spanish and to establish a Cuba, free from racism and intolerance.

James explained how the racial harmony of Cuban workers in Ybor City succumbed to bigotry and hatred by 1923.

The change was not instigated by white America's racial practices alone but by a combination of:
a) The change in the principled leadership of the Cuban-American Community after Jose Marti, was killed in battle to liberate Cuba;
b) The implementation of Apartheid in Ybor City by America's Jim Crow laws;
c) Penetration of the Cuban Community by other people living in the surrounding cities;
d) White Cubans realigning themselves for the privileges associated with whiteness.

I recommend this work for students, general readers and especially those with an interest in history, politics, literature and the development of the Society!

See Also:

Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)

In-Dependence from Bondage: Claude McKay and Michael Manley: Defying the Ideological Clash and Policy Gaps in African Diaspora Relations

The Groundings With My Brothers

Cuba: A Revolution in Motion