Caribbean Books

The use of chemical munitions has a long and somewhat tortured history. This book begins that history with World War I which saw the heavy use of such weapons by nearly all countries. In World War II all of the major armies produced deadly gasses but little was actually used. It was indeed a period of restraint. In fact, the only incidents that I know of were the American ship 'John Harvey' being bombed while loaded with 2,000 Mustard Gas bombs and releasing the gas in Bari, Italy. The use of gas by the Nazi's during the Holocaust. And fairly heavy use by Japan in China including extensive testing by Japan's Unit 731 where some thousands of Chinese were reported killed.

The most recent use was the use in Iraq where an artillery projectile filled with a binary nerve gas was set off by the insurgents. It failed to mix properly so only a very small amount was released.

This is truly a 'Study in Restraints' as all of the major powers sat on their supplies and didn't use them.

General Brown,the author wrote this book, and subsequently went on to become Chief of Armor and Cavalry, after his retirement he became a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and worked at the International Institute of Strategic Studies.

The Child Of Exile is a compilation of free-verse poetry written by a Cuban-American, who left Cuba as a child with her parents to seek refuge in the United States. Her moving words reflect her daily search for meaning, identity, and belonging. The result is a unique work that embodies the heart of establishing one's existence in a new land while striving to connect with one's roots far away. "For A Sister Here": Six years ago I discovered her / in the ruins of the city, / wandering among the ashes / of burnt souls. / Then, I denied my sister, / a stranger. / I listened, / heard the silence of fear, / the sounds of aimlessness. / I could only wait, / waith for her to break the night.

The history of the Caribbean is a history of migrations. The peoples of the region came as conquerors and planters, slaves and indentured laborers from all parts of the globe. Each group contributed to the social fabric, culture, and commerce of the region. The Chinese diaspora has spread Chinese people and culture around the world, including to the Caribbean, where Chinese exist both as distinct ethnic groups within Caribbean societies and as shapers of unique Caribbean cultures.

The book describes not merely the arrival and experience of Chinese in the Caribbean but also the ways in which Chinese have adapted to and altered the region. Included are the histories of Chinese people in Cuba, Jamaica, Panama, and the British West Indies, and overcame, their slow rise to economic independence and success, their contribution to art, theater, cuisine, and literature, their roles in the region's national revolutions, their place in post-colonial politics, and the subsequent remigrations of individuals, families, and entire communitites to North America.

Esperanza Malave Cintron shapes her book of poems, Chocolate City Latina, into four parts: Girl Talk, Spirit Speak, City Speak and Womanspeak. As the titles imply, the poems follow a progression of themes from family and identity to place, language, spirituality and a fierce claiming of parenthood, heritage and what it means to be a modern woman of mixed blood. Throughout, the poems display energy, directness, honesty and authenticity. In exploring language and how it shapes identity, Cintron displays a willingness to play with words and syntax without ever sacrificing the (at times searing) heat of anger, love, forgiveness and loyalty that characterize the emotional content of the poems. Too, there is an optimism, a sense of life as an adventure, an eagerness to find out what's around the next bend, along with a deep respect for the mystery of why we are the way we are. Cintron delves deeply into relationships: between sisters, between parent and child, abuser and abused, between lovers and even the way strangers reach out to one another (as in the poem "Stall Scrawls.") There is a sturdiness to these poems, even as they reach back in memory or forward in possibility, and risk everything. Cintron has a great sense of popular culture on its deeper levels, as in the fabulous poem "Communion," which begins, "God is/ in Michael Jackson/ who mirrors the world/ as he fades to white/ wearing a dollar sign/ at his throat..."
Chocolate City Latina never lets up its intensity, while at the same time inviting the reader to bring his/her own perceptions to the work. I loved this book and will reread parts of it many times.

Ribeyro gives amazing insight into Peruvian culture and history. He looks at social and cultural norms in an isolated ranch in the Peruvian highlands. Some of what you'll read is shocking. It is interesting to see how the main character Lucho becomes a man. I appreciated Ribeyro's ability to point out social injustice and racism without making overt statements on these issues- he allows the reader to draw their own conclusions. Ribeyro masterfully uses irony to develop his characters. Thank God more of Ribeyro's works have been translated into English! It would be a shame to not share his works with most of the world.

Poisoned diving suits, syringes made to look like pens, exploding seashells and cigars--these are but a few of the 612 known plots against Castro between the years of 1959-1993. Apologists for the CIA and the terrorists among the Cuban exile community cannot dismiss this book as Cuban disinformation because the records provided here are CIA declassified files. This book is the smoking gun.

To read this book is to learn how hatred makes people not only violent but ridiculous as well. Murdering Castro wasn't always the aim of each plot, although, no doubt, that was the would-be assassins ultimate aim. At times they sought to embarrass and discredit Castro in ways that ranged from the childish and prankish to the sinister.

There were plots to slip him LSD before one of his speeches so that he would laugh hysterically and discredit himself. One harebrained analyst believed the secret of Castro's charisma lay entirely in his beard. He proposed that thallium salts be placed in Castro's shoes so that his beard would fall out. Imagine the insult to the Cuban people suggested by this plot: the Cuban people loved Castro not for his ideas and ideals but because they were captivated by his facial hair. The contempt of the slur is only exceeded by the idiocy of the plot.

I used to believe that Castro and the revolution in Cuba survived forty-plus years of USA overt and covert onslaught because of the intelligence of Castro and the guardians of the revolution. Not any longer, although that was part of it. Another part--a huge part as this book demonstrates--is that the enemies of the revolution are imbeciles, made dumb by their hatred and unwillingness to accept that history in Cuba has moved past them.

A good piece of comparative work. The author shows that democracy in Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago derives both from the institutions created by the colonisers and the action of the colonised. The emergence of class alliance politics in the 1930s is the basis of democracy in those two countries. The failure of such politics in Surinam explains why that country's political record has been so uneven.

The other day I went through my cookbooks, to see if I could weed some out, because I have too many to mention. It's hard getting rid of a cookbook, especially one with a few recipes in it that you've come to love. But I've scanned the recipes I need to keep forever into my MacBook. However, there were an even dozen I couldn't part with. These are books I turn to time and time again, even though I consider myself somewhat of a gourmet chef.

Emma Duprey de Sterling's COCINA ARTESANAL PUERTORRIQUENA is one of the books I kept. Yes the book is in Spanish, so if you don't read the language, you'll need a dictionary or the help of someone who does, but if you persevere, you'll find that you'll both learn a few important Spanish words and that you'll be cooking up something very good. The "Pescado Encebollado" on page 97 is one delicious way to serve salmon. The recipe is simple and easy to cook up. The "Ensalada Verde" (Green Salad) on page 49 is a perfect way to begin a meal, but you'll be giving your dictionary a work out with this one, still it's worth it. This book is a must for a someone who both speaks Spanish and wants to turn out delicious Caribbean dishes and even if you don't speak the lingo, it's still a joy to own.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

In language rich with Caribbean tones and sounds, Lynn Joseph casts her fishing net and pulls a school of readers in with the tide, giving "boys and girls who aren't familiar with the Caribbean a glimpse into another child's world." A woman of the island herself, Joseph writes the poems from the perspective of a young Trinidad girl. Beginning with "Morning Songs," the poems flow naturally across the pages as a Caribbean day unfolds. Before day's end, the girl is greeted by the "ebony man selling mangoes and papaws in the street," has school escapades, and sees "Mama gone to market with the figs upon her head." The pleasures and secrets of the island are revealed throughout, as in "The Palet Man" (Caribbean ice-cream man), and "Steel Drum," which beckons readers to hear the drum's "pom da de de de dom pom." Text-enhancing, full-page illustrations, bursting with Caribbean life, leave lingering images behind. Glorious colors depict everything from the multi-hued blue water where Brother swims "till he touch high heaven on a wave," to the all too real "Jumbi Man" (Caribbean boogie-man) with his "monkey face." Joseph craftily uses metaphors to construct new images from the familiar. In "Pullin' Seine," the evening ritual of fishermen pulling nets in from the sea, Joseph skillfully places the text, creating an image of the net's heaving and hawing, as fishermen begin, struggle, and successfully pull their net in. While the book is an excellent read-aloud for all ages, the text's level of difficulty along with the unfamiliar Caribbean words make it an appropriate independent-read for children ages eight and older.

This is a nifty little handbook that handled nearly all the identification needed for amateur shell collecting on Cayo Costa, a barrier island on Florida's west coast. The photographs are accurate and information is easy to find.