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From J.R. Ward - The Times Literary Supplement:
"In the 1830s, the British aim was to make the freed people useful wage-workers on the sugar plantations. . . . The strategy's results disappointed all the main parties involved. . . . In 1865, a disputed parish-court case at the south-eastern port town of Morant Bay ignited revolt among squatters on plantation land nearby, and the colonial authorities reacted brutally. Holt covers all this rather familiar ground most capably.  In dealing with subsequent developments, he is less sure-footed, though his work provides much useful information on a still under-researched period of British West Indian history." 

Synopsis:
The complex story of the rise and fall of the colored class in Jamaican politics is examined in this important contribution to the history of the Caribbean.

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Public Record Office description:
"Brings together for the first time the wide variety of records available in the Public Record Office for the study of British West Indian Ancestry."  

Comments - David Bromfield:  An invaluable guide to those who plan to search the vast records of the P.R.O. in London for a wide variety of colonial records. 

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Synopsis:
Sugar and Slaves is an account of the 17th century Enlish settlers of St. Christopher, Barbados, Nevis, Montserrat, Antigua and Jamaica.  These colonist  "developed a way of life radically different from their cousins in North America:  they learned to grow and process sugarcane, were the first to import African slaves, grew rich almost overnight, lived recklessly and died young." 

Comments by David Bromfield:                                                     An excellent introduction to the "taste, smell and feel" of life in those early years which also set the tone for generations to follow.

Card catalogue description:
"A distinguished scholar here offers a thorough lively account of the Jamaican stage, arguably the most prominent theatre of its kind in the British colonies through 1900. Errol Hill discusses the struggle to maintain viable playhouses, the fortunes of visiting professional troupes, and the emergence of an indigenous theatre. He documents the plays written and produced through the end of the nineteenth century, presenting them against the background of a society emerging in the 1830s from a slave-holding system. He also explores the rituals, festivals, and other forms of entertainment enjoyed by the broad underclass of Jamaicans, most of whom were slaves or slave descendants." 

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Review - Booknews, Inc. , May 1, 1994:
"A detailed study of the economies and material cultures that slaves built among themselves in two of the most heavily developed plantation regions in the Americas. Focusing on two geographical areas that led in the production of sugar--Jamaica in the 18th century and Louisiana in the mid-19th century--McDonald (history, Rider College) examines the resourceful efforts slaves on the sugar plantations made to better their circumstances under working conditions that were among the most taxing endured by slaves anywhere."

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Synopsis:
The life and times of ten of the Caribbean's most famous pirates, including the "prince of pirates" Henry Morgan; Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard; and "Calico Jack" Rackman and his accomplices Ann Bonney and Mary Read.

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Synopsis:
"Sojourners in the Sun traces the history of the well-educated, middle-class Scots who migrated from Britain to Jamaica and the Chesapeake colonies of Maryland and Virginia. Seeking to improve their positions at home, they saw the New World as nothing more than a place to make a quick fortune. They intended to return as soon as possible, with as much as possible. .....although many of them made fortunes, they were unable to take their wealth from the island and generally failed to return home."