Radicalism and social change in Jamaica, 1960-1972 /

Gray's examination of Jamaica since 1960 includes significant segments on militant labor, the politics of the Young Socialist League, the growth of a Jamaican nationalist intelligentsia, and the growth of Black Power. Gray also looks at various kinds of popular protest and dissident movements. The closing chapter is an epilogue that provides a brief narrative of Jamaican events between 1972 and 1988. Unfortunately, much of this detailed study is written in professional jargon, and the work seems to be dependent on various ideological and pseudo-philosophical contructs that have no basis in or relation to reality in Jamaica or anywhere else. Readers who can wade through this and who also possess a good working knowledge of Jamaican history, politics, economics, sociology, and race relations will find the work quite useful; others undoubtedly will be in over their heads, and are likely to sink. Full bibliography; extensive notes.-B. B. Solnick, SUNY at Albany