Review by Choice Review
Bolland (Colgate), a sociologist, has performed a valuable service in bringing together a selection of his recent essays that are essential reading for all seeking to understand the complexities and diversities, as well as the common features, that make up the historical dimensions of the modern Caribbean. An essay on creolization and models of creole societies sets the scene for nine essays grouped under the headings of "Colonization and Slavery," "From Slavery to Freedom," and "Class, Culture, and Politics." These carry the reader from 1492 into the 1990s and range from discussion of patterns of colonization to a chilling essay on the machinations of Cold War politics. By definition, the study of the Caribbean must be comparative; Bolland has cast his net widely to make comparisons to the US, and more closely as in his essay on social consciousness and political cultures in Belizean and Guyanese societies and the ramifications of the politicization of ethnicity. These essays make for compelling, often salutary, reading: they are succinct, cogent, and original, sophisticated in their conceptualization, and fresh in their interpretations. Upper-division undergraduates and above. A. J. R. Russell-Wood; Johns Hopkins University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
