George Beckford left the Caribbean region, and the underdeveloped world in general, an extraordinary body of work that spanned his career as economics professor, advisor to governments, and consultant to international organizations. "George Beckford's work is characterized by a remarkable consistency of purpose and vision . . . [This collection presents] the unfolding of George Beckford's work from agricultural economics to political economy, to the social economy of 'man space', to the cultural roots of Caribbean creativity and a vision of one independent, sovereign and self-reliant Caribbean nation . . . His purpose was to reveal the legacy of dispossession originating in the slave plantation experience of African people in the New World; to 'free the mind' from the internalization of attitudes of inferiority and 'Afro-Saxon' mimicry. His vision was the affirmation of the culture of 'overcoming' rooted in the Caribbean 'peasantry' and the land". Introduction