From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean is about 30 million people scattered across an arc of islands -- Jamaica, Haiti, Barbados, An...
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Jan 26, 2010
Dennis
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I went to Puerto Rico for New Years in 2007 to visit a friend from college. I went expecting to see something familiar, something like the United States, or more like Florida, or even more like the neighborhood in the Bronx I lived one summer. But it was clearly very different from all of those, very much its own culture distinct from what I knew in the U.S. and with a history obviously its own. When I got back to California I decided to find a book on the history of the Caribbean, and lucky
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Oct 22, 2010
Michal
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Eric Williams belongs to the group of Marxist historians. His remarkable work offers the reader deep analysis of Carribean from Colombus to Castro. However, he points out mainy mainly economic matters with strong aspect of colonialism. Carribean is highly connected with fruits, sugar and thus is oriented to peasans and not industrial level of region. As a author of Capitalism and Slavery he tries to find close linkage as well he based this book partly on economic aspect of region. Furthermore, i
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Jul 25, 2011
Malcolm
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I really like Eric Williams' work (his 1944 Capitalism and Slavery remains one of the most important books in colonial and imperial social and economic history, as well as perhaps the most important book about the Atlantic slave trade), and although this was first published in 1970, so contains some things we now know to be wrong, this is a fantastic introduction to Caribbean history. There is a really solid blending of economic, social and political history, and it is an excellent launch pad fo
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Mar 10, 2009
John
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The history of the sugar industry and slave trade really framed most of the history of the Caribbean. In that sense, this book was really right on the money. It includes everything you ever wanted to know about the two industries and how they influenced the development of the region.
However, this book was a little hard to swallow. It was very heavy on the historical facts and figures, and not so great with the historical narrative. In other words, it was very detailed in tellin More...
However, this book was a little hard to swallow. It was very heavy on the historical facts and figures, and not so great with the historical narrative. In other words, it was very detailed in tellin More...
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Apr 19, 2009
Ken
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Among the saleant points; a needed documentation of slavery. Eric Williams points out the enormity of the issue that still has legacy in our society. He gives numbers that should stagger white and black alike.
Jan 20, 2009
Adam82
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If you are not a business major, or economics inthusist, you will not have to read past the 3 chapter. However, the information in the first couple of chapters are priceless.
Aug 17, 2007
Davina
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Excellent history of the Caribbean written by first Black Prime Minister of T&T.
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