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For more than a century, Caribbean intellectuals have created a substantial body of work expressing their ideas about culture, identity and society in the region - ideas that have contributed to the development of a distinctive Caribbean civilisation. Many of them consciously contributed to the formation of their particular nation or, through forging links between their own national culture and others in the region, to the formation of a Caribbean nation. Many made wider connections with Latin America and Africa, or the African diaspora, and have contributed to leading ideas in the world about Pan-Africanism, negritude, nationalism and socialism. This collection shows some of the variety, commonalities, contrasts and connections in the ideas of these intellectuals, from J.J. Thomas and José Martí in the late nineteenth century to the present day. The book is edited to provide essential biographical and contextual introductions to each selection, and notes to clarify points and references in the texts that may not be clear. There is a general Introduction that explains the purpose of the book and briefly discusses the general intellectual and cultural context of Caribbean ideas in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A broad range of selections is made, including writings and speeches by famous and lesser known political and literary figures, women and men of very different opinions throughout the period and from most parts of the Caribbean.

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CHOICE Review

The West Indies presents a contrast in homogeneity and heterogeneity concentrated in a relatively small space. On the one hand, common features of Caribbean history, such as potential for domination by the US and the heritage of colonialism and slavery, would seem to make the region fairly uniform. But when the origins of the differing colonizing powers are taken into consideration, the resulting variations can be quite noticeable. Bolland, a historical sociologist at Colgate University with interests in class, labor, and their manifestations in the Caribbean region, has set out not so much to make a case for a "common Caribbean template" as to let readers see the differing yet similar ways that Caribbean peoples express their cultures and identities. Bolland's method showcases writers covering the last two centuries of Caribbean thought in the three (translated) major Caribbean language divisions. Readers will be struck by the contrasting emphases with respect to foreign relations, race, economics, and nationalism emanating from the writers, who include academics as well as political figures. Bolland's comprehensive work, especially with regard to English-language writers, is a fine complement to Mervyn C. Alleyne's recent Caribbean cross-cultural study (The Construction and Representation of Race and Ethnicity, CH, Jun'03). ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. W. J. Nelson Shaw University