The Caribbean area projects an image-not entirely accurate-of instability, and it is within that context that the United States and Cuba, the region's chief protagonists, struggle. This book explores in detail the history and nature of Cuba's influence in the Commonwealth Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America, as well as its relations wi

The Caribbean area projects an image-not entirely accurate-of instability, and it is within that context that the United States and Cuba, the region's chief protagonists, struggle. This book explores in detail the history and nature of Cuba's influence in the Commonwealth Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America, as well as its relations wi

Diasporas comprise an inescapable part of the human experience and few are more interesting and diverse than African diasporas. By providing a panoramic view across time and geographical space this collection of essays illustrates the inherent variability of African, European and Asian diasporic formation. Even when such communities share a common origin, diasporas behave like living organisms that respond sensitively to specific geographical location as well as particular social, political and economic circumstances. Migration constitutes an essential prerequisite for diasporic formation. Once established diasporas assume a life of their own and sometimes form secondary diasporas and their histories make a significant contribution to comparative societal studies.

Fifty years after the arrival of Columbus, at the height of Spain's conquest of the West Indies, Spanish bishop and colonist Bartolome de las Casas dedicated his Brevisima Relacion de la Destruicion de las Indias to Philip II of Spain. An impassioned plea on behalf of the native peoples of the West Indies, the Brevisima Relacion catalogues in horrific detail atrocities it attributes to the king's colonists in the New World. The result is a withering indictment of the conquerors that has cast a 500-year shadow over the subsequent history of that world and the European colonization of it. Andrew Hurley's daring new translation dramatically foreshortens that 500 years by reversing the usual priority of a translation; rather than bring the Brevisima Relacion to the reader, it brings the reader to the Brevisima Relacion -- not as it is, but as it might have been, had it been originally written in English. The translator thus allows himself no words or devices unavailable in English by 1560, and in so doing reveals the prophetic voice, urgency and clarity of the work, qualities often obscured in modern translations. An Introduction by Franklin Knight, notes, a map, and a judicious set of

Offering a rare pan-Caribbean perspective on a region that has moved from the very center of the western world to its periphery, The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism journeys through five centuries of economic and social development, emphasizing such topics as the slave-run plantation economy, the changes in political control over the centuries, the impact of the United States, and the effects of Castro's Cuban revolution on the area. The book integrates social analysis with political narrative, providing a unique perspective on the problems of nation-building in an area of dense populations, scarce resources, and an explosive political climate. New to this Edition * A fresh contextualization of Caribbean history * Up-to-date and revised scholarship, bringing the history to 2010 * New information on indigenous societies and the contact period * A short bibliography of suggested readings for each chapter * Expanded discussion on the Haitian and Cuban Revolutions and their universal impact * Revised and updated chronology and informational tables on the Caribbean

Fifty years after the arrival of Columbus, at the height of Spain's conquest of the West Indies, Spanish bishop and colonist Bartolome de las Casas dedicated his Brevisima Relacion de la Destruicion de las Indias to Philip II of Spain. An impassioned plea on behalf of the native peoples of the West Indies, the Brevisima Relacion catalogues in horrific detail atrocities it attributes to the king's colonists in the New World. The result is a withering indictment of the conquerors that has cast a 500-year shadow over the subsequent history of that world and the European colonisation of it. Andrew Hurley's daring new translation dramatically foreshortens that 500 years by reversing the usual priority of a translation; rather than bring the Brevisima Relacion to the reader, it brings the reader to the Brevisima Relacion -- not as it is, but as it might have been, had it been originally written in English. The translator thus allows himself no words or devices unavailable in English by 1560, and in so doing reveals the prophetic voice, urgency and clarity of the work, qualities often obscured in modern translations. An Introduction by Franklin Knight, notes, a map, and a judicious set of