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The story of the tyrannical years in Haiti is one of degradation and repression and of shocking life-and-death struggles for power. This account from the senior editor of Haiti Times reads incredibly like a novel by Graham Greene. 8 pages of photos.

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Publishers Weekly Review

Written by the senior editor of the Haiti Times (and sister-in-law of Baby Doc's successor, General Henri Namphy), this is the most intimate and revealing examination to date of the Duvalier years. Based largely on interviews with former officials, intellectuals, voudou priests and ordinary folk, Abbott provides a shocking view of conditions in the Black Republic from the 1957 election of Duvalier pere to the exile of his son, Jean-Claude, in 1986, and up to the installation of President Leslie Manigat two years later. For the most part, it is a nightmarish chronicle of corruption, greed and relentless slaughter, climaxing in an account of ``Blood Sunday'' (29 November 1987) when the dreaded Tonton Macoutes reemerged to sabotage Haiti's first free election in 30 years. Abbott traces the transformation of Francois Duvalier from puritanical country doctor to mad despot, the rise of the Macoutes gangs under Madame Max Adolphe and their political rivalry with the Haitian army, and the bizarre, lackadaisical reign of Jean- Claude Duvalier, including details of the reckless squandering of public funds by his wife Michelle. Photos. Author tour. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

The story of the Duvaliers is not pretty. It is a tale of dictatorship that employed merciless violence, bloodshed, and corruption to maintain itself in office. It has been told very well here, in this the first account of an infamous period in a degraded country's history. Abbott, a trained historian and a professional journalist, is also sister-in-law to Lieutenant Henri Namphy who headed Haiti's interim government after "Baby-Doc," Jean-Claude Duvalier, fled to France after the coup that ousted him in 1986. As such, she had inside exposure to events that led to the ouster of Duvalier as well as to the inner workings of the country's bizarre politics. It was this same Namphy who presided over what the author calls "the saddest day in Haiti's history" when 34 Haitians were massacred trying to vote in an election that was supposed to bring democracy to the ill-starred country. Her conclusion is devastating but not surprising: the legacy of bloody dictatorship under the Duvaliers is a country seemingly destined to be ruled by "Duvalierism." The behavior of the present government led by General Prosper Avril has done little to refute her prognosis. This volume will be of interest to students of politics and society in this hemisphere as well as to readers concerned about how Third World countries can manage the evolution to democracy. All levels. -P. Regenstreif, University of Rochester