Empire's Crossroads: The Caribbean From Columbus to the Present Day - Hardcover

Carrie Gibson

3.81

500 ratings by Goodreads

9780230766174: Empire's Crossroads: The Caribbean From Columbus to the Present Day

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 023076617X ISBN 13: 9780230766174

Publisher: Macmillan, 2014

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In October 1492, an Italian-born, Spanish-funded navigator discovered a new world, thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean. In Empire's Crossroads, Carrie Gibson, unfolds the story of the Caribbean from Columbus's first landing on the island he named San Salvador to today's islands - largely independent, but often still in thrall to Europe and America's insatiable desire for tropical luxuries.

From the early years of settlement to the age of sugar and slavery, during which vast riches were generated for Europeans through the enforced labour of millions of enslaved Africans, to the great slave rebellions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the long, slow progress towards independence in the modern era, Gibson offers a vivid, panoramic view of this complex and contradictory region.

From Cuba to Haiti, from Jamaica to Trinidad, the story of the Caribbean is not simply the story of slaves and masters - but of fortune-seekers, tourists, scientists and pirates. It is not only a story of imperial expansion - European and American - but also of life as it is lived in the islands, both in the past and today.

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Review:

Vivid and thought-provoking (Spectator)

Carrie Gibson manages to weave 500 years of complex history into a brilliant narrative ... [A] strikingly assured debut. (Observer)

Carrie Gibson has written a compelling history of the Caribbean, rightly placing it at the heart of European imperialism. This is a gripping account by a gifted scholar and story-teller (Tristram Hunt)

A fine introduction to the history of a turbulent and fascinating region (The Times) --The Times

Carrie Gibson has written a judicious, readable and extremely well-informed account of a part of the world whose history is seldom acknowledged. Too many people know the Caribbean only as a tourist destination; she takes us, instead, into its fascinating, complex and often tragic past. No vacation there will ever feel quite the same again. (Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost) --Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost

Sharp, gripping ... packed with the stories of tyrants and insurgents, and images of violence and beauty ... A great read about some fantastically absorbing - and to many people, little-known - history ... An exceptionally impressive debut. (Alex von Tunzelman Literary Review) --Alex von Tunzelman Literary Review)

Book Description:

A definitive history of the Caribbean by a brilliant young historian

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