History / Caribbean & West Indies / General

A study of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo’s scheme, during the mid-twentieth century, to create and reinforce a buffer zone on the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti through the establishment of state institutions and an ideological campaign against what was considered an encroaching black, inferior, and bellicose Haitian state.

By exploring controversies such as the veracity of the Black Legend, the location of Christopher Columbus’s mortal remains, and the survival of indigenous cultures, this study shows how recorded history became implicated in the struggles over empire.

A major reference tool, providing thousands of entries and rich scholarly annotations, this book defines research on postemancipation societies in North America, South America, Latin America, and Africa.

“To Hell with Paradise” illustrates the problems of founding a tourist industry for a European or U.S. clientele in a society where the mass of the population is poor, black, and with a historical experience of slavery and colonialism. It combines political and cultural history to reveal how Jamaica transformed itself in the nineteenth century from a pestilence-ridden “white man’s graveyard” to a sun-drenched tourist paradise.

A study of the dynamics of city politics in MayagŸez, Puerto Rico, that views the fascinating career of Benjamin Cole. A quasi-legendary figure in island politics, Cole served as mayor of MayagŸez from 1968 to 1992. His spectacular success often ran counter to the broader political trends in Puerto Rico and offers insights in the currents of change that swept the island from the 1960s through the 1990s.

In The Meaning of Freedom scholars from a wide variety of disciplines contemplate the aftermath of slavery, focusing on Caribbean societies and the southern United States. They attempt to answer the questions about culture, economics, and politics central to this issue.

From 1917 to 1933, the United States kept Puerto Rico in limbo, offering it neither a course toward independence nor much hope for prompt statehood. Clark unfolds with clarity the painful truth of the United States’ unsavory attempt at being both a democratic and imperial nation during this period.