Caribbean History English

Vodou, Vodoun, Vudu, and Voodoo has captivated the imaginations of Americans for centuries. Everyone is familiar with New Orleans Voodoo and its images of black candles, chicken’s feet, and skulls meant to invoke fear and awe in outsiders. Voodoo as practiced in the United States has become an amalgam of witchcraft, necromancy, rootwork, conjure, and a catch-all word for any type of magic that seems dark and ominous. In the Caribbean, however, Voodoo is spelled Vodou and is practiced as an African Traditional Religion (ATR).

Orthodoxy, first published 1908, is Chesterton's spiritual autobiography. Subtitled, 'The romance of faith', Chesterton declares that people need a life of 'practical romance; the combination of something that is strange with something that is secure.'

When we hear of Jamaica or the Caribbean, we think of beautiful islands of paradise with sun, sea and sand, reggae music, cannabis, and "irie" people like Usain Bolt - people who are living out their best dreams, desires, and lives. But this book analyzes this motif, given the historical and current economic and political situation in Jamaica, the Caribbean, and the "Global South". In an attempt to escape the adverse realities of poverty, inequality, and injustice, the people of the Global South find themselves in north metropolises with very little agency.

A blazingly honest essay collection from a refreshing new voice exploring the in-between moments for Black women and girls, and what it means to simply exist “At thirty-seven years old I can say Shenequa is a big name and I’m a big, bold woman.” Shenequa Golding doesn’t aim to speak for...

The Borinqueneers: Puerto Rico’s 65th Infantry Regiment captures the remarkable and often overlooked history of Puerto Rican soldiers who served in the U.S. military. Through their unique journey from segregation to recognition, the book highlights their courageous service, enduring discrimination, and the pride of their cultural identity. It draws listeners in with powerful stories of heroism, starting from their formation during World War I and continuing through major military campaigns in World War II and the Korean War.

When Thomas Harding discovered that his mother's family had made money from the slave plantations worked by people of African descent, what began as an interrogation into the choices of his ancestors soon became a quest to learn more about Britain's role in slavery. It was a history that he knew surprisingly little about. In White Debt, Harding vividly brings to life the story of the uprising by enslaved people that took place in the British colony of Demerara (now Guyana) in the Caribbean in 1823.

Unlock the secrets of paradise with this definitive guide to Turks and Caicos. In "Turks and Caicos: A Guide to Paradise – Discover the Best Excursions, Top Resorts, and Rich History of This Caribbean Gem," you'll find everything you need to plan a flawless getaway. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a returning traveler, this comprehensive guide dispels any doubts about the destination. Brimming with local insights and expert travel advice, this indispensable guide removes doubts and inspires your next perfect getaway.

He challenged the greatest empire on earth with a ragtag bunch of renegades—and brought it to its knees. Empire of Blue Water is the real story of the pirates of the Caribbean. Henry Morgan, a twenty-year-old Welshman, crossed the Atlantic in 1655, hell-bent on making his fortune. Over the...

Based on actual events spanning forty years, this story is about the relentless struggle of a family’s search for freedom, the Great Seven Fidel Castro’s inner circle, and an epic adventure driven by a passionate love relationship set in pre- and post-Revolutionary Cuba. The love story is the main impetus of this chronicle. Pepe, the only survivor of the inner circle to escape several assassination attempts, is forced to leave his family and his fiancée (Alicia) in Cuba. Alicia, who is carrying his unborn child, conceals her pregnancy to ensure Pepe’s immediate departure to safety.

Joseph Laroche was an anomaly among the passengers of the Titanic. He was exceptionally well-educated in a time when few Black men had access to an education - and when even fewer were able to travel on a luxurious ship in first or second class. When his family arrived in the United States without him after the Titanic's tragic crash, they were received well along with the other survivors and even sponsored by a wealthy New York heiress. Who was Joseph Laroche? Where was he going, and what was his story? This biography recounts the life of Joseph Laroche.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the images of two men came to dominate the iconography of left-wing movements: Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. The story of the revolution these two men led in Cuba became a fable that drove and encouraged other revolutionary movements around the world. The Cuban Revolution is certainly astonishing. Beginning with fewer than 100 armed men, the Fidelistas took on a government that had a well-equipped army, air force, and navy. On paper, the handful of rebels stood no chance.

For over 120 years, Puerto Rico has lived under the control of the United States, yet it has no vote in Congress, no say in presidential elections, and no path to true self determination. Why? In La Mano de Washington: How U.S. Presidents Failed Puerto Rico, Alex Alicea exposes the long and often hidden history of how U.S. presidents, both Democrat and Republican, have neglected, exploited, and undermined the island since 1898.

During the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804, arguably the most radical revolution of the modern world, slaves and former slaves succeeded in ending slavery and establishing an independent state. Yet on the Spanish island of Cuba barely fifty miles distant, the events in Haiti helped usher in the antithesis of revolutionary emancipation. When Cuban planters and authorities saw the devastation of the neighboring colony, they rushed to fill the void left in the world market for sugar, to buttress the institutions of slavery and colonial rule, and to prevent "another Haiti".

Gérard Salomon was born Haitian by his father and Dominican by his mother on March 21, 1954, in Cap-Haitian. His father was a non-commissioned officer in the Armed Forces of Haiti, who had a high sense of military duty. His childhood was strongly marked by the military values that his father was able to instill in him. Military service and sociology were a passion.

In 1965, following his mother's death, Infante returns to Cuba from Brussels, where he is employed as a cultural attaché at the Cuban embassy. When a few days later his permission to return to Europe is revoked, Infante begins a period of suspicion, uncertainty, and disillusion. Unable to leave the country, denied access to party officials, yet still receiving checks for his work in Belgium, Infante discovers the reality of Cuba under Fidel Castro.

Oscar Wilde was always willing to express his opinions on a wide variety of subjects, including his own writings. The following selection of letters was prepared and edited by his executor Robert Ross, who is best known for expurgating and publishing Wilde's last major work, De Profundis.

FNH Audio presents an unabridged reading of Arthur Conan Doyle's nonfiction book A Visit to Three Fronts. Written in 1916 during the peak of the First World War this book follows Mr Doyle as he visits first the British, Italian, and finally the French sectors of the front. He meets with everyone from the highest national generals to the lowliest of frontline troopers. Although a work that can be classified as mid-war propaganda, it does offer some very interesting insights into the British mind-set at this time of the war.

In 1609, two years after its English founding, colonists struggled to stay alive in a tiny fort at Jamestown. John Smith fought to keep order. When he left, desperate colonists ate lizards, rats, and human flesh. Meanwhile, the Virginia-bound Sea Venture was shipwrecked on Bermuda, the dreaded, uninhabited “Isle of Devils”. Bermuda became England’s second New World colony in 1612. A Tale of Two Colonies examines the existing sources on the colonies, sets them in a transatlantic context, and weighs them against circumstantial evidence.

Successful sea rovers were careful practitioners of a complex profession that sought wealth by stratagem and force of arms. Drawn from the European tradition, yet of various races and nationalities, they raided both ship and town throughout much of the world from roughly 1630 until 1730. Using a variety of innovative tactics and often armed with little more than musket and grenade, many of these self-described "soldiers and privateers" successfully assaulted fortifications, attacked shipping from small craft, and even circumnavigated the globe.

In its formative years, America, birthplace of a revolution, wrestled with a volatile dilemma. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and many other founding fathers clashed. What was to be the new republic's strategy toward a revolution roiling just off its shores? From 1790 to 1810, the disagreement reverberated far beyond Caribbean waters and American coastal ports. War between France and Britain, the great powers of the time, raged on the seas and in Europe.