Caribbean Books

The Jambalya recipie aquired from a 70 year old woman from the deep south, is by itself, more than worth the price of this book. I'm ordering a replacement for the one I loaned out and never got back. This book has real food that can be made with things real people can find (or may already have in their kitchen) at the corner grocery store. The history behind the various dishes brings the food alive, lending a connection to times past and far off cultures impossible to experience in person. As a book, it's great--as a cookbook, it's a masterpiece.

Exploring the traditions - old and new - of African cooking in the Americas, this book is organized by regional cuisines: Caribbean, Bahia Brazilian, Soul Food, Louisiana Creole, Barbecue and Recent African Immigrants. Each chapter begins with a brief, food-oriented history, and recipe introductions include origins and suggest variations.

Cusick's book is a work of love, research and thoroughness. At least half the recipes have familiar names and she often includes more than one version (Jambalayas, chicken and dumplings, corn breads, and barbecue sauce for every taste). There's pecan pie and fried green tomatoes and dirty rice and fried pies.

There's also Haitian Gumbo and tapioca fritters and curried goat, and, from recent immigrants, bean pudding, lamb or chicken peanut stew and steamed banana pudding.

A vivid portrayal of an unpretentious and innovative cuisine.

This book is a wonderful collection of African recipes as they have evolved from the days of slavery. Not only does the author share these beautiful recipes, she also gives a brief history and background as to how they came to be. She includes recipes for the spices and sauces used in each type of cuisine, as well as different suggestions as to how you can make each recipe your own. This book gave me a wonder feeling of heritage and home. I felt like these gifts were being handed down to me from my ancestors, and that I now had a duty to hand them down to my children. This book is truly a must read!

Richard S. Dunn examines the British colonialization of the West Indies. Dunn considers numerous colonies, but Barbados takes early preeminence. Dunn discusses the adventurers of the first twenty years, mostly small-scale farmers; the cavalier-planters of the 1640s and '50s, Royalist exiles who fled the English Civil War; and the slaves who became a majority of the population in the period Dunn considers.

Dunn offers a detailed contrast between the lives of the planter elite and the enslaved majority. This is a landmark work in the history of plantation agriculture in the West Indies.

The work should also interest readers of Southern history. Dunn compares the rise of a cavalier elite in Barbados to the same development in Virginia. Planters from the West Indies, especially Barbados, dominated the early years of the colony of (South) Carolina.

Other works on this period of West Indian history are Richard Sheridan's Sugar and Slavery and Gary Puckrein's Little England. Works by Hilary Beckles examine the lives of women and Blacks in this period of West Indian history.

Dunn does an excellent job of explaining the planter class in the West Indies. His research is excellent and his writing style is clear and devoid of that crazy academic jargon so often found in history books. This is my first book on planters and it gave me a good fund of knowledge on the histories of Barbados, the Leeward Islands, and Jamaica, and it outlined in detail how the planters made or lost money. For me, it's Dunn's careful unraveling of the planters' financial arrangements and entanglements that made this book absolutely hard to put down!

In "Sugar and Slaves," Richard Dunn shows not only the brutality of the West Indies slave trade that revolved around sugar, but also how slave owners "created a society...radically different from the one they left at home." He notes that while these planters brought with them to the islands their laws, church and social institutions, these settlers early on "developed their own lifestyle...bent by their eager embrace of African slavery." (46) Dunn persuasively argues that European planters who came to the West Indies traveled literally and figuratively "beyond the line" of normal, British social conventions, and created a world in which "everything goes," particularly the exploitation of slaves and natives in the creation of a dominant master class. These rapacious men, he argues, quickly adapted to harsh climatic conditions by abandoning the use of lower class but white indentured servants in favor of exploitable, controllable Negroes once the sugar boom created a demand. "The rape's progress was fatally easy," Dunn notes: "from exploiting the English poor to abusing colonial bondservants to ensnaring kidnaps and convicts to enslaving black Africans." (73) Unlike his Chesapeake or Lowcountry counterpart, the West Indies sugar lord produced nothing but his staple crop, and relied instead on imports for all other necessities. "In short, the English sugar planter was more strictly a businessman than the senhor de engenho of Brazil." (65) This was a marked difference from other English settlement and colonization patterns, which Dunn concludes is evidence of the atypical class of planter the Caribbean islands fashioned.

This Caribbean based book put out by Sunny Caribbee Spice co. in Tortola, BVI is a joy to use and read. The theme is keep it simple but tasty. Substitue spices are listed in the event that you do not have Sunny Caribbee products ( which you should have in your pantry anyway !) Bravo !

This cookbook is full of scrumptious, easy to fix recipes, perfect for entertaining! Anyone who is familiar with Sunny Caribbee spice blends will appreciate the recipes that go hand in hand with their spices. Check out the Pesto recipes! You don't have to make trips to the grocery store to get the ingredients! The Presto Pesto blend has everything you need. Unique Caribbean recipes using Jerk seasoning are well worth a try! Every good cook should have this book!

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the recipes. They were diverse covering a wide array of food types. The helpful hints were especially useful. Everything was easy to prepare and due to its caribbean flair, a change from the mundane.

While there are plenty of cookbooks focusing on either the cuisine of the Caribbean or that of Pacific Asia, this is the only book I've ever seen that samples both regions in one volume - and to wonderful result! By tackling recipes from Cuba to Indonesia, the author illuminates some of the common elements of these cuisines, as well as what makes each one unique.

Beyond that, these are useful, not-too-difficult recipes that nearly anyone should be able to produce in one's kitchen. Shrimp and Mango Curry is one of my favorites; a West Indian recipe that manages to be exotic without requiring hard-to-find ingredients. Also excellent are the recipes for salsas and chutneys that can be prepared to add spice and flavor to just about any meal.

Instructions are very easy to follow. There are no photographic illustrations inside, but they are not needed as the recipes sound so tempting just by their names alone (Rum-Soaked Bajan Chicken; Sea Bass with Banzai! Peanut Sauce). This collection is a great addition to any cookbook library and a wonderful introduction to the foods of the Tropics.

A friend lent this book to my partner and me. We looked through the recipes and couldn't find one we wouldn't make. As cooking afficianados who buy a number of cookbooks a year, this is by far the best resource we've found!

What a great book! I've tried about a dozen recipies so far and they are all superb. The Jerk Chicken Recipe on page 67 is so wonderful we have made it several times. My lips felt like they were blown up to 50 PSI but I couldn't stop eating it. The Island Roasted Chicken with Thyme Mustard Sauce is another unforgettable meal. Ground Nut Stew, Black Bean Soup, and Papaya,Mint,Coconut Soup are also memorable. This is a "Must Have" book.

Well worth reading, not only for the libidinous content, told artfully and with humor, but also for its stark, mostly squalid, picture of mid-1990s communist Cuba. A genuine treat.
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This book is a recount of Juan Pedro Gutierrez' personal experiences as a Cuban who was the victim of the crisis of 90's after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba's strongest ally and economic tie. This book may offend those who are fond of the Cuba that is portrayed as a paradise to many around the world but unfortunately the lifestyle of Cubans is not at all what the tourists enjoy. Also, some may be offended by the way the author portrayed is own life as an average poor Cuban male, who survived the best way he could by living a vagabond life with the company of the rum bottle, sexual encounters and salsa music. What else could a poor destitute Cuban do in a communist country whose government provides its people with the bear minimum and even less at times.

I think book just tells it like it is without any polishing which I think gives the reader a clear portrait and reveals another aspect of Cuba with respect to survival especially during the peak crisis of the 90's when the shortage of everything was notable. The basic staple needs like soap, toilet paper, food etc. could not be met and the situation is still quite comparable today in 2003. The book brings the Cuban experience to life via the language that the author uses which is at times very vulgar, raw, inappropriate and downright Cuban however, the language and the style is what brings his recounts to life and helps to situate the reader in that time frame and to identify with the author's experiences. Also, there are some interesting references to the Gods of Santeria a religion that is still practiced by many Cubans today.

Overall the book presents and aspect about Cuba that is real, hard to believe and depressing but at the same time is an eye opener and a reality check about a country who has its citizens living in poverty and in some cases below human standards.

I read the Spanish version. I believe a book like this should always be read in its original form. The language here I don't think can be carried over successfully in a translation.

Great read, I wouldn't know how to start describing it, I just know that I liked it. His prose is full of sex, misery, rum, hunger and dirt, with the constant presence of women and the ocean. A desperate cry into the hopelessness of those who lived in Cuba during the early "Special Period" of the nineties.

The story of a renegade cuban journalist, and an insight into his own hell and that of those around him; a hell caused by the starvation and misery that followed the breakdown of the Soviet Block in Cuba. Sex, drugs and cheap rum provided the only distraction available at the time. A narrative where the hunger never leaves, and where the only thing that is for sure is that things will not be better tomorrow.

187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border contains amazing poetry, anti-poetry, narratives and short stories of Herrera's works for over 35 years. This book gathers the "undocuments" from 1971-2007, and reading it you can watch the history of the Mexicano unfold before you, it is as though Herrera has painted a wall, a wall of graffiti. Art many willingly accept yet others will walk right past never daring to look too hard. This wall is sometimes disjointed, uncomfortable, and awkward, but that is the life of the Mexicano in this world, and that is the beauty of the picture Juan Felipe Herrera lays before his readers. Also like a graffiti wall in that you get little snippets of love and hate, of peace, of war, of pride and self-consciousness. Each story or poem gives glimpses, which alone would be beautiful, but in this compilation they become completed as all together they form a whole. Reading through the undocuments, some really captured me, drove me to a new level of compassion and understanding, while others were most likely targeting someone else. Just as walking through an art exhibit some pieces you cannot tear yourself from, others you barely notice...and understand that each viewer/ reader will take home a completely different experience. Herrera will meet you where you are. He will challenge you at the place you now find yourself.

Herrera goes beyond these borders and also captures the relations between the landinos and the indios of Mexico and the full America Latina. He goes out of his way to show us the differences, the similarities, and the life, that if we are not living are not aware of the difficulty that comes with it. Yet, this is not only a text full of sadness, pain and suffering, it is just as full of pride, loyalty, love, and acceptance. It is a modern day Tarzan call to all those who will hear, it is a cry that rings throughout the nations, a call that when read cannot be ignored, it is a cry mostly for truth, and justice. It is a call to be prideful of your heritage, to not give in to smoothing differences, to not change the way you appear to yourself or to the critics around you. In 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border, Herrera displayed one thing with the loudest voice: injustice. He gave injustice a voice- a jagged, crunchy, palpable voice.

Aware, phosphorescent and immediate, this is language brilliantly engaged. Juan Felipe Herrera is simultaneous lighthouse and lightning, the flash that carries the warning and the live wire. For three decades now Herrera's hot-colored Surrealism has transmitted one of the strongest border radio signals of alt-poetics from the Mission District to St. Mark's Poetry Project, from the Taos Poetry Circus to Bisbee, from the first Floricantos of the Bay Area or cross-border exchanges in Tijuana and D.F., Chiapas and Yucatan to San Diego, L. A., Austin and beyond. This poetics makes a practice of making a difference. Here available together for the first time are wide-ranging selections from dozens of Herrera's outstanding `experimental' mixed-genre books, many of which had eccentric or limited original distribution. Contextualized with photos, historical notes and chronology, 187 Reasons serves up both continental panorama and meta-document in the practice of a poetics that comes alive with startling vitality---across borders of political silence and censorship of the Other, semiotic deserts and actual killing fields.

Neftalí Reyes, ese era el nombre original del gran poeta Pablo Neruda. Indudablemente Neruda es uno de los más grandes poetas en cualquier lengua, este su libro de 20 poemas de amor y una canción desesperada, fue escrito en su juventud y es uno de sus libros que más a cautivado al público en todo el mundo, son poemas sencillamente divinos, sumamente románticos, sobretodo el No. 15 "Me gustas cuando callas porque estas como ausente" y el famoso No. 20 "Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche". Yo encuentro que en la producción posterior de la obra de Neruda encontramos poemarios mejor logrados dentro el género romántico, por ejemplo me gusta más, "Los versos del Capitán", y dentro de su obra con un fondo más social "Canto General". Este es un libro indispensable para los amantes de la buena poesía.

Fuertemente recomendado.

Este libro de neruda contiene unos hermosos poemas en los cuales neruda se concentra mayormente en el amor, locura y pasion. La cancion desesperada es tambien hermosa.

The simple end to area code frustrations for me. No more wasted time. I have this map on my desk. It solves most problems with area code changes, splits, overlays. Paid for itself many, many times over already.

We now have one of these area code finders on every desk in our call-center, plus our sales office, our buying office and in the reception area. The ridiculous and time wasting area code frustrations are now gone - simple. And now when I call someone who's left a message on my voice-mail, I know where I'm calling and what time zone they're in. Time saved, hassle avoided, blood pressure reduced, etc.

CodeTracker tells me: a) where unknown callers are calling from (using table on back plus caller ID), and b) what time zone callers are situated in (useful when returning messages), and c) it takes the hassle out of splits, overlays, new codes and changes. The table on the back is quick and has all the changes explained clearly, and the maps are useful. Yes, you're right! I like it. I bought a pack and put one on every desk in the office. I reckon I got my money back on time saved within a couple of weeks.

I have used CodeTracker Area Code Maps for some years as a desk top reference. I receive many incoming calls and before I return voice mails I refer to the table on the reverse side to identify which time zone the caller resides in. I also find the map provides an easy way to keep up to date on the many area code changes each year. Now, every desk in my office is equiped with a CodeTracker. Good quality printing, laminated, indestructable, essential. Paid for itself many times over. Anyways, it's preserved my sanity!!

We Were Not the Enemy: Remembering the United States Latin-American Civilian Internment Program of World War IIWE WERE NOT THE ENEMY IS AN AMAZING INSIGHT INTO WORLD WAR II AND THE "CONCENTRATION CAMPS" OF AMERICA. TO SOMEONE WHO NEVER LIVED SUCH A NIGHTMARE YOU CANNOT IMAGINE THE INTERNEES SUFFERING. THIS BOOK SPEAKS TO THE IMPACT OF INTERNMENT ON THE COUNTRIES, STATES, COMMUNITIES AND THE HIGHLY PERSONAL ISSUES OF HUSBAND, WIFE AND CHILDREN. THIS IS A STORY THAT NEEDED TO BE TOLD THROUGH THE LIFE EXPERIENCE OF AN INTERNEE. HEIDI GERCKE DONALD DID LIVE THIS NIGHTMARE. THE RESEARCH FOR THIS BOOK ENRICHED THE PERSONAL STORY. JOB WELL DONE !

It is well known that Japanese citizens living on the American West Coast were interned in concentration camps during World War II. But on the whole the Germans and Italians living in the East and Midwest were not.

This book reports on the internment of Germans who had been living in Latin America that were arrested by their government at the instigation of the US government, deported to the US and interned. (Later, the Government in a strange sort of logic determined that they hadn't entered the country legally and were trying to deport them.)

This is the story of a little known incident that affected the lives of a lot of people. It was not the United States at it's best. Then again, neither was the treatment of the Japanese, nor the situations at Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib.