Caribbean Books

I tossed this great guidebook into my carry-on bag before I left for a recent trip to Road Town in the British Virgin Islands and found it to be the perfect resource during my trip! Unlike most Eyewitness travel books that tend to be all-encompassing and a bit cumbersome to carry around, this "Top 10" version is more like Eyewitness-light, perfect for taking to marketplaces and the beach.

The book breaks down the American and British Virgin Islands into the top ten beaches, snorkeling sites, resorts, festivals, amongst others. The recommendations are varied and interesting, especially the sections highlighting shopping opportunities and historical sites. Also included is an "Around the Virgin Islands" section that offers about five pages of island-specific information for St Croix, St John, St Thomas, Tortola and Virgin Gorda. The last section entitled "Streetsmart" helps you assimilate into the island culture as easily as possible with info on arriving in the islands, shopping, hotels, etc.

The book digs deeply to provide lush photography and insider tips to ensure you have a great vacation.

If you are planning a trip to the Virgin Islands this is an essential book to have. It covers both the US and British Virgin islands in complete detail. It breaks down the islands individually and gives you suggestions for attractions, restaurants and advice on how to organize a trip around the island. Cannot recommend enough.

Although I haven't road-tested this book, I can tell you that it came second overall in The Observer (UK) Guidebook of the Year Award. High praise indeed

A Letter That I Wrote to The Traveler's Companion Publishers......

Dear Reader

Hi my name is Brian Cliette; I'm a Hospitality and Tourism major at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. Firstly I would like to express my love and admiration for your Traveler's Companion books, personally I own close to Fifthteen of them. During High school and College my interest sparked by your books has allowed me to travel to many parts of the world. Never the less yours books have led me to the best sites, restaurants, night clubs and places of interest that these countries had to offer. In less than a month on July 19th, I will embark on yet another adventure abroad, to the land of Castro, great rum, cigars, the land of a beautiful people and unique culture. "Cuba" . But because funding (educational cuts in North Carolina) my school wont be able to furnish the Traveler's Cuba Companion for my fellow students. Which I feel with really enhance their travel abroad experience. So I was wondering if they're any charitable books available for educational endeavors such as this. Doing so would spark interest in your other great products. Any help that u may be able to offer would so greatly be appreciated. And if unable to furnish books or other learning tools that would aid are experience, your books are still great.

Sincerely,

Brian A. Cliette

My entire family read this book during the Christmas holidays. My kids range from age 5 to 15 and all four enjoyed it. The stories gave a wonderful picture of growing up in the Caribbean and made us want to visit. We also loved the authors' telling about themselves. The activities at the end of each story kept my children occupied. I think these activities are a good way of getting children to really understand and enjoy the stories. Great family reading.

This book kept my 6 year old cousin and myself hooked. The stories were fun, and the illustrations engaging, and at the same time, I also learned a little more about Caribbean life. I could even relate some of the stories to things that I went through as I was growing up. Overall, a great book to include in your library at home.

This bilingual text enhances the experience of reading Paz's poetry. His poetic form can be as spare and suggestive as tanka/haiku or dense with visual imagery as in the poem, A Fable of Joan Miro. The meditative tone of many selections suggests that beyond the accomplishments of art, literature and music, the essential composition is of oneself: "to learn to see so that things will see us and come and go through our seeing." Highly recommended.

Octavio Paz wrote some of the most remarkable poetry and prose of the 20th century. The collection of poems entitled "A Tree Within" represents one of his most memorable achievements. A remarkable diverse blend of short lyrics and longer, Whitmanesque creations, "A Tree Within" is definitely a collection that bears careful reading and re-reading.

The book is richly studded with multicultural references and allusions--to Epictetus, Buddha, Gilgamesh, Jack the Ripper, the Aztecs, Don Quixote, and many, many, more. But Paz is not merely trying to dazzle us with his knowledge. He is also introspective and revealing. He struggles with deep questions about language, love, and other concerns.

Paz seems to be searching both for an ideal poetic language, and for a form of connectedness that transcends language--a paradoxical quest, yet pure Paz. When he writes "Man's word / is the daughter of death" (in the poem "To Talk"), it strikes me as both a tragically naked confession of inadequacy and a moment of serene liberation. At other times, Paz seems, like Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, to be groping towards the creation of a sort of "secular scripture" for the (post)modern age.

In the poem "I Speak of the City," Paz writes, "I speak of our public history, and of our secret history, yours and mine." The histories recorded by this visionary genius are certainly some of the most important literary creations of the 20th century.

Do you ever experience that feeling of "goosebumps" running up and down your body when something - an emotion, a work of art, a courageous act - deeply moves you? That is how I felt when Julia & Phil Davies showed me a preview copy of their new book, Turks and Caicos Islands - Beautiful by Nature. I had previously been given the opportunity to read the copy, which itself is an awesome compilation of facts and information about the natural history and heritage of these Islands. However, the combination of the well-researched text, Phil's spectacular photography and Julia's meticulous drawings of selected species tremendously impressed me. Finally, in one comprehensive and beautiful publication, TCI-philes will be able to learn all about the country's magical wonders and how they came to be.

The 176 page, over-sized hardcover book includes 182 color photographs from all around the Islands and 60 hand-drawn illustrations. The lively chapters lead readers from the land and reef's formation through detailed descriptions of marine, bird, animal and plant life to Islanders' sea-based heritage and how recent change and development has affected Turks & Caicos culture. Besides serving as a one-of-a-kind resource for visitors and residents, the book seems destined to be used as an educational text in local schools.

Julia and Phil spent two years in the Turks & Caicos researching the book and shooting the photos and another two years writing the text, completing the drawings and designing the layout. Their creation is truly a life's masterpiece and stunning tribute to the Islands.

If you live in the Islands, you've probably already seen a copy of Phil and Julia's beautiful book, and l hope you've already bought a copy or two. For those who have not seen it yet, I urge you to search it out. Except for Bertie Sadler's historical survey of our country, Turks Island Landfall, this book is the first major publishing effort that focuses on the Turks & Caicos Islands exclusively.

Primarily a photo-essay, Beautiful by Nature is held together by the impressively astute and coherent narrative that outlines the entire history of the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Chapter One starts in the far geologic past. We are introduced to the millennia-long formation of the shallows, reefs, and sand flats that preceded the final emergence of our Island platforms. Chapter Two is a brief and readable short course in Island biogeography. We learn how the first signs of life came to these brand new Islands in the form of windblown seeds, migrant birds from north and south, and wave- washed, castaway snails, lizards, and snakes.

Finally, Chapter Three brings us to our Islands' human populations. In concise historical sketches, the authors outline the successive migrations that have populated these Islands and how these populations have impacted the land: Taino Indians from the south, Bermudian saltrakers from the north, and British Loyalists from North America. Chapter Four covers the Turks & Caicos Islands as we know them today. There is a section on the Salt Islands of Grand Turk, Salt Cay and South Caicos with their colonial charm and laid-back feel. The modern development of Providenciales is highlighted in another. And the final chapter is an outline of the country's plans for the future and a plea that the ever- quickening pace of modern development doesn't catch the Islands off-guard.

Buy this book. Buy it for the stunning photographs and Julia's charming illustrations. It's well worth it. But please, read it, too. The Davies' love for the Turks & Caicos Islands is obvious. And their ability to share it with us in beautiful pictures and well-chosen words is a gift.

I am a teacher of a year three class (age 7-8 years). I chose to read the children (30 of them) the story of Two Peculiar Pelicans as I myself found the illustrations breath taking.
The children's responses were outstanding;
'it's beautiful - it's like the real thing' - age 7
'the colours are amazing, miss' - age 8
One child had to get up to touch the book when he was talking about the sunset.
Truly a sensational book that evoked lots of conversation and dialogue. It is now continually picked from the shelf, by the children, to browse thru' .

A delightful story about a pair of pelicans who arrive too late at the sea gate to go fishing for their dinner. They are sent on their way by the officious dolphinfish, keeper of the sea gate, who can't understand why they would want to fly off to further reaches, away from his beloved sea.

A great introductory text for young readers, but the real high point is the illustrations, which are vibrant, exciting and filled with intricate detail of exotic wildlife. A treasure trove for children of all ages to explore, with lots of beautifully drawn detail rewarding closer inspection.

Deeper messages too, about a sense of belonging and the opposing call to adventure, to explore the big beautiful world beyond the limited horizons of one's own place.

For older children there is also excellent explanatory text, giving detailed factual information about the brown pelican and the dolphinfish, the two main characters in the book.

The British Virgin Islands have a very different atmosphere from their close neighbors, the U.S. Virgin Islands. This guide was helpful in giving valuable information that helped me plan my vacation to the area. The excellent hotel and restaurant reviews, as well as information on each of the individual islands on things to see and do made it a very indispensable source for finalizing my trip plans.

The British Virgin Islands have a very different atmosphere from their close neighbors, the U.S. Virgin Islands. This guide was helpful in giving valuable information that helped me plan my vacation to the area. The excellent hotel and restaurant reviews, as well as information on each of the individual islands on things to see and do made it a very indispensable source for finalizing my trip plans.

Now retired Marine Corps Colonel Williamson was a young officer when he first went to Haiti in 1958. One of the few still alive who took part in the ill-fated effort to professionalize the Haitian "Army", which was what Papa Doc Duvalier asked the U.S. to do, he is uniquely qualified to chronicle the events of a group of Marines trying to carry out their orders in a byzantine situation.

The US Naval Mission, begun with such high hopes, gradually came face to face with the reality that Duvalier's motives in asking the US to his country were anything but simple, and that a professional, well trained corps of officers and soldiers was the last thing he wanted.

As the US Mission labored to do what it had been sent to do, Duvalier, like Penelope at her loom, seemed determined to counteract every US action, cashiering the most promising officers, allowing graft, killing when he deemed necessary.

While encountering resistance from Duvalier, the Marines were also charged by Haitians opposed to Duvalier with being midwives to the birth of the feared Haitian secret police - the "Ton Ton Makouts". Drawing on many heretofore classified documents, Williamson chronicles in great detail the frustrations encountered by a highly motivated group of professionals who came to love Haiti even as their eyes were opened to the havoc wrought upon it by its Machiavellian Dictator.

Until now, the most read accounts of events in Haiti from the election of Francois Duvalier in 1957 until the tragic events of April 1963 were Diederich's and Burt's, "Papa Doc: Haiti and Its Dictator", and the Heinls' comprehensive 785 page history of Haiti, "Written in Blood". The former barely covered the military advisory missions, while the latter could afford just a few pages to this era.

No matter, because Colonel Charles T. Williamson's "The U.S. Naval Mission To Haiti 1959-1963" is now without doubt the definitive record of that episode in U.S and Haitian history.

Colonel Williamson has masterfully researched, organized and presented a story of foreign policy that started with good intentions, gung ho American military advisors. and Haitian armed forces (FAdH) officers eager for military assistance, all of which soon turned into disastrous foreign policy, disenchanted American advisors, and young Haitian officers and soldiers and their families fighting for their very lives. The author makes clear that the times were challenging, exciting, sometimes dangerous for Americans in Haiti and, sadly, always dangerous, often tragic for the Haitians.

What started as a concise monograph that might serve as an "official history" of the U.S. Naval Mission To Haiti grew rapidly as the author sifted through national archives, daily reports, contingency plans, and old military records. All the while he searched for Haitian and American friends and acquaintances of four decades ago to rekindle memories of their experiences and perceptions of the period. The book is an interesting, easy-reading chronological narrative, punctuated with anecdotal material about events and people, both Haitian and American. Williamson lists every member that served in the naval mission, even noting what a few are doing now. He presents his own incisive analyses of the U.S. foreign policy for Haiti, (especially shortcomings), the successes and frustrations of the American advisors and many of their FAdH counterparts, and the motives and intentions of Papa Doc and others. The author's commentary continually emphasizes the never-ending plight of the Haitian people.

Admittedly, it is very easy to be biased toward a book that accurately, interestingly, and minutely recounts a part of history that one has lived through. The plain fact is that Colonel Williamson has given us a great read. Graham Greene would have liked it.

This is the best book, academic or recreational, that I have read in a VERY long time. While I was anxious about my distance from the subject matter, I quickly realized that Contreras' ability as a writer rendered this worry obselete. He takes the immensely complicated and makes it seem simple. His explanation of love and longing is complex, yet refreshingly straightforward. I can't wait for this man's next publication.

I was drawn to this book by the intriguing title even though I am not an academic and wasn't overly familiar with the subject. Happily, I found the book to be easy to read and full of interesting connections between books, movies, artworks, and theater in ways that you don't normally see. Although it mostly focuses on Latino/Chicano texts, it also points out the power of feeling/longing/loving in our everyday lives and how that is manifested in different types of creative expressions. It really made me think!

Even in translation (although I wish this were a dual language book) a very distinctive use of repetition and very tight construction shines through. I would call the work less "political poetry" than "poetry of human relationships that have a political context". Even poems of anguish regarding the Argentine "disappeared", have a universality rather than a stridentcy. The poems include exquisite turns of phrase that make reading it a pleasure of waiting for the next magnificant phrase.

"Unthinkable Tenderness: Selected Poems" is an important volume by Juan Gelman of Argentina. This collection has been edited and translated into English by Joan Lindgren, and features a foreword by Eduardo Galeano.

Gelman spent time in exile during a period of Argentine military dictatorship; his son and daughter-in-law disappeared under the dictatorship. Much of this book deals with these painful realities. The book includes a helpful chronology of the Argentine turmoil from 1966-95. Unfortunately, this is an English-only edition; I would have preferred a bilingual edition.

Many of Gelman's poems are dark and mournful. This is understandable, since many of them deal with such subjects as exile, torture, and assassination. There are also poems about love, and about poetry itself. I was especially moved by his series of prose poems that explore the psychological landscape of the exile. He writes, "I am a monstrous plant. My roots are thousands of miles from me and no stem connects us" (from "Under Foreign Rain" XVI).

This is a haunting and powerful volume. I highly recommend this book to those interested in Latin American poetry, literature of exile, and human rights.