Product Description
Timely information follows the chain of events that occurs when the violence and political unrest in Haiti prompt President Clinton to deploy U.S. troops to restore President Aristide to the leadership position of the troubled Caribbean nation. ... Read more

Product Description
Provides an introduction to the geography, culture, food, animals, sports, and holidays of Haiti. ... Read more

Product Description
Silencing the Guns in Haiti traces Haiti's haltingand uncertain quest for democracy from the perspective of someone whoplayed a leading part in every stage of that process.

"A provocative study of the prospects for the rule of law inHaiti."--Marilyn Bowden, Miami Today

"[Stotzky] deepens insights into the contradictory obstacles todemocratic governance in Haiti."--Library Journal

"Controversial and stimulating."--Choice

"Lucid and informative. . . . Stotzky gives readers a good foundation for understanding the pressures facing the impoverished but determined Caribbean island."--Islands ... Read more

Product Description
Introduces the land, history, government, people, and economy of the Caribbean's "Black Republic." ... Read more

Product Description
Haiti's dramatic history, pressing social problems and rich culture make it one of the most fascinating nations in the Americas. This book reflects Haiti's diversity through the best writing, both from and about the country. While many journalistic accounts are rapidly overtaken by events, this collection reveals the more deep-rooted reality of the "magic island"'s people and society. Mixing contributions from anthropologists, historians and novelists, the book is arranged thematically. It offers sections on a wide range of historical and contemporary issues - from foreign intervention and human rights, to popular culture, and the Haitian diaspora. Each section contains an introductory essay on a particular theme, extracts from differing authors and full bibliographic information. Contributions include previously unavailable work from Haitians, translated from Creole, as well as excerpts from such authors as C.L.R James, Aime Cesaire, Jacques Roumain and Edwige Danticat. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

French Review
"For anyone seriously interested in Haiti, it is an indispensable work. it belongs not only in one's school/college/university library, but in one's personal collection as well." -French Review

Review from the Journal of Haitian Studies
Reviewed by Brian Concannon Jr., Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Libète is a wide-ranging and compelling anthology of writing on Haiti.As the title suggests, the Haitian people's struggle for freedom from oppression is the focus, but the editors manage to weave a lot more than history and politics into the work.The selections are interesting and concise, and well organized into chapters with equally concise introductions.Libète is invaluable as an introduction to Haiti, but also will fill in knowledge gaps for most Haiti veterans, and is a handy reference on the bookshelf.

The book's breadth is striking: 187 selections, mostly excerpts, are grouped into ten chapters, including history, politics, rural and urban life, refugees, culture and literature. The selections are well chosen, and represent much of the best that has been written about Haiti. Selections date from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 20th; their authors hail from Haiti, Europe, North America and the Caribbean. The selections include primary and secondary non-fiction, as well as novels, poetry and photographs. The writers were (and are) participants, chroniclers, anthropologists, scholars and artists.

Libète's brevity is equally impressive: all that is crammed into 352 pages. Each selection can be read in a few spare minutes, each chapter in an hour or two (I first read it over a month of breakfasts). The price of this breadth and brevity is depth: although the editing is skillful, no skill can distill a book adequately into a page or two, especially a great one, nor adequately treat a complex subject in two-dozen pages. In this sense, Libète is not an end in itself, but a starting point. The reader should keep this limitation in mind, and use the book as inspiration and guide to further reading.

Each chapter begins with a short introduction by the editors, which places the selections in context and fills in some of the gaps between them. Libète ends with a comprehensive index and citations for all included material.It does not, unfortunately, contain a bibliography discussing the useful material that did not make the final cut.

Although the various authors represent a diversity of perspectives, Libète is assembled consciously from an activist point of view. The principal editor is the coordinator of the London-based Haiti Support Group, and a long-time supporter of Haiti's democratic transition.The book reflects an activist's adoption of Haiti's poor majority as the starting point for analysis, as well as an emphasis on the adverse impacts of a host of "isms" - colonialism, imperialism, racism and capitalism - on Haitians' struggle for freedom, especially freedom from poverty.

About half of Libète chronicles the series of oppressions that have kept Haiti's majority vulnerable to exploitation.They include outsiders, from Columbus' explorers to the French slave-holders, the occupying U.S. Marines, and the current enforcers of neo-liberal economic policy.They also include home-grown oppression - brutal political and military potentates, and the economic elites they served. The book shows how the poor in Haiti were kept in their place with force, including slavery, war and civilian massacres, but also with law, politics, diplomacy, land tenure, social structures, the economy and the education system.

Libète does not, however, treat Haiti and Haitians as mere objects of these large forces. Its other half chronicles the courage, creativity, resourcefulness and persistence of Haitians as they wage their perpetual uphill battle for freedom. This resistance uses brute force when it has to, but also art, literature, song, politics, social organization, work and even botany where it can. Although it often seems to be losing the war, Libète points out the many areas where the struggle has carved out space for freedom to express, to create, to vote and to live.The book highlights Haitians' agency by featuring Haitian voices, in works of fiction, newspaper articles, interviews and essays, many of them for the first time in English.

Libète does not speak directly to some of the current debates raging about Haiti, but that may be one of its strengths. By focusing on the issues that are important over the long-term, it provides an example of looking past the petty internecine battles that have plagued Haitians' struggle for freedom, to the more vital long-term work to be done. The long view also extends the book's shelf life: by not depending on today's events, the selections, and the editors' analyses ensure their relevance for a long time to come (sadly, until "Libète" is achieved).

Libète is an excellent introduction to Haiti, possibly the best in English.A student, visitor or solidarity activist who had read nothing else on Haiti would have a pretty good idea of what was going on in a variety of fields.It isequally useful for veterans: it points out the gaps that we all have in our knowledge, and shows where we can go to fill these gaps.It is also a good reference for the specialist's shelf, for quick access to subjects outside one's expertise.

Echo...echo... to what has already been expressed.
This book truly is the very best introduction to Haïti I can possibly think of.If you want to learn about Haïti, start here.Each entry is short, carefully chosen, and typically riveting.SIX STARS on this work, and my thanks to Arthur and Dash for putting it together.

Echo...echo... to what has already been expressed.
This book truly is the very best introduction to Haiti I can possibly think of.If you want to learn about Haiti, start here.Each entry is short, carefully chosen, and typicaly riveting.SIX STARS on this work, and my thanks to Arthur and Dash.

If you read one book on Haiti....
"Libete" is a comprehensive and concise anthology of writings on a wide spectrum of topics, including the history, religion, art, and politics of the country.It is a good introduction for those new to Haiti, and shows those wanting to deepen their understanding where to look. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Colorful account
While making no claims to be objective, this colorful account of Gold's 2 years in Haiti and dozens of trips in the 50 years since then, captures all the wild contradictions of the magical but suffering country.

Haiti
This is an amazing book. I have traveled to Hait 5 times, my longest stay being four months. This book made me feel as if I was back in the country I love so much. I would recommend this book to anyone who's heart has been grasped by this country.

Haiti, A Nightmare You Can Sleep Through
This is one of the most compelling book that I ever read about Haiti.Mr. Gold is funny and objective.One could feel his love for Haiti popping out of the pages; he is not just another foreigner out to make a quick buck.Although his experiences in the book were limited to the capital, he gave a vivid account because he was in the thick of things.When I checked with family and friends on the veracity of some of Mr. Gold's claims, he seemed to have hit right on the money.I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Haiti.

Haiti is better than what the author had writen in his book.
First of all your ideas are not well founded since you did not live in Haiti long enough to place a judgement or an opinion.Your grounds are very weak when you see only one part of Haiti. Being like a horse on a racetrack, the author is only focusing on what you may consider the worst, Iwould like to know when writters are going to start publishing the rightstuff about a third world country.

Highly amusing, informative &, sometimes, touching.
I just had to respond because the only response posted is so off the mark! Gold clearly has a deep love & respect for Haiti & Haitians. He also has a wicked sense of humour & he apparently does not feel theneed to whitewash what he sees. We must have read two different books! ... Read more

Product Description
This compelling book offers a comprehensive analysis of the struggle for democracy in Haiti, set in the context of the tumultuous rise and fall of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Swept to power in 1991 as the champion of Haiti's impoverished majority and their demand for a more just, equal, and participatory democratic society, the charismatic priest-turned-president was overthrown by the military just seven months into his first term. Popular resistance to the junta compelled the United States to lead a multinational force to restore Aristide to power in 1994 to serve out the remainder of his presidency until 1996. When he was re-elected for a second and final term in 2000, Aristide had undergone a dramatic transformation. Expelled from the priesthood and no longer preaching liberation theology, his real objective was to consolidate his and his Lavalas party's power and preserve the predatory state structures he had vowed to dismantle just a decade earlier. To maintain power, Aristide relied on armed gangs, the police, and authoritarian practices. That strategy failed and his foreign-backed foes overthrew and exiled him once again in 2004. This time, however, the population did not rally in his defense. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

First Review for Dupuy's The Prophet and Power
Here, Dupuy offers a lightening-paced analysis of the rise and fall of Aristide, with special attention given to international context surrounding events in Haiti. He starts by explaining that the election of liberation theologian Aristide broke with the traditional "pact of domination" between the occupiers of the state government, the Haitian bourgeoisie, and the multi-national and international allies of the Washington Consensus, none of whom paid any regard to Haiti's impoverished masses. If Aristide and his Lavalas government were going to make any progress and stay in power, they would have had to entice the already-skeptical Haitian bourgeoisie and, with them, maybe even the international community, into a new pact of domination, which could safeguard his government from the neo-Duvalierists and their ad hoc, ever-enlargening alliance.

Dupuy argues that, although Aristide, from the onset, had a multitude of enemies, his occasional contradictory, authoritarian behavior spoiled any opportunity to form a new pact of domination with the bourgeoisie. Dupuy backs his thesis by citing Aristide's sometimes-threatening tone when addressing the bourgeoisie, his support of mob violence (Père Lebrun) when necessary, his party's occasional non-democratic behavior (e.g. P.M. Préval ignoring a National Assembly summoning), his increasing reliance on the chimès armed gangs, etc.According to Dupuy, all of this, even though most of it was brought on by the opposition's non-cooperative pressures, served only to exacerbate his opponents' pre-existing aversion to the Lavalas movement, thus strengthening the alliance of the old pact of domination and its will to rid Haiti of Aristide.

Dupuy has written a very strong, and fair, book. He clearly sympathizes most with Aristide's original social-democratic ambitions--he makes several hearty jabs at USAID and the International Republican Institute. (This is not at all an anti-Aristide book.) However, at the same time, he has made great effort to step back and acknowledge that wrongs were being committed and mistakes were being made on everyone's part. The author has also done considerable thinking about the Aristide crisis in context to world history and globalization; tidbits of his vocabulary resonate with Marxist and Dependista development theory; also expect to find references to ideas of the likes of David Harvey, David Nicholls, and others. The author's continual use of conjecture--what if...--if Aristide had done this...--however, at times, was slightly too excessive.

The Prophet and Power is a no-nonsense book, which is inevitably both its greatest strength and weakness. The paperback edition is 200 pages of intense analysis, making it a good choice for a college-course reading assignment. Dupuy includes no superfluous material: there are no emotional stories or sub-plots. While this may come as a relief to those serious readers who are finishing up Deibert's 450-pager, there are certainly elements that are in no way superfluous but, apparently, didn't make the cut and find a way into this book. The most disappointing case of this, I felt, is the complete omission of the Dominican Republic's role in the international fiasco surrounding Aristide. Despite this, Dupuy's book is very good, better than any I have recently read; and I encourage you to read it.
... Read more

Product Description
Includes photographs and drawings.Foreword by Joseph CampbellThis is the classic, intimate study, movingly written with the special insight of direct encounter, which was first published in 1953 by the fledgling Thames & Hudson firm in a series edited by Joseph Campbell. Maya Deren's Divine Horsemen is recognized throughout the world as a primary source book on the culture and spirituality of Haitian Voudoun. The work includes all the original photographs and illustrations, glossary, appendices and index. It includes the original Campbell foreword along with the foreword Campbell added to a later edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Maya Deren'sDivine Horsemen
This book is an excellently written anthropology of Hatian religion.The illustrations are very interesting and relevant to the topic of Voodo and there is a well written Author's preface.

Just try to find a book aboutVoudoun aka Vodou, etc.
Maya Deren was an experimental filmmaker in the 40's who traveled to Haiti in the hopes of making a film about Haitian dance. She was also a dancer. See "In the Mirror of Maya Deren," and definitely see "Maya Deren: Experimental Films."
Occasionally I think about voodoo, and this is the best book about the real thing I've ever seen. I know, she was the white daughter of a prominent immigrant psychiatrist. It's a bit of a time capsule if you look at it in anthropological terms. The film she shot in Haiti was edited into "Divine Horsemen: the Living Gods of Haiti," after her death by a couple of her friends. It's beautiful.
If you've never heard of Maya Deren, buy "Maya Deren Experimental Films."

voodoo 101?
The story behind this book is more interesting then the book itself. Maya Deren was one of America's first avant garde film makers (wiki). In the late 40s, she won a Guggeinheim grant and went off to Haiti to study voodoo. Of course! She eventually produced Divine Horsemen, the Voodoo Gods of Haiti, which is represented as a definitive work on the subject. Having now read the book, I have to say that this fact, if true, reflects poorly on the english language literature on the voodoo faith.

Divine Horsemen was a damn sight better then the last book I read on Voodoo- Secrets of Voodoo by Milo Rigaud. Secrets of Voodoo is translated, poorly, from the french, and I couldn't understand a damn thing in it. At least Divine Horsemen is written in English.

The biggest negative in Divine Horsemen is Deren's writing style, which is trey "pompous undergradute." Towards the last hundred pages I found myself skipping entire paragraphs of hemming and hawing. On the positive side, Deren actually presents Voodoo as a comprehensible faith. Rigaud takes the approach of "Voodoo is crazeee," for example, he simply lists a bunch of voodoo gods in alphabetical order. Deren, on the other hand, creates a schematic organizing the voodoo faith on a vertical axis of "Principles": crossroads, underworld, earth, heavens, sea, fire, female & ancestral. Then she adds a horizontal axis of ethnicities that provide their own gods: Dahomey, Nago, Ghede, Juba, Ibo, Quita, Congo, Petro.

So then you have the Dahomey god ("loa") for crossroads, the petro loa of fire etc. Sure, it makes for multitudinous pantheon, but it's understandable.

Your basic Voodoo ritual is led by a Houngan(a priest) and then you have a series of sacrifices to one god from each principle. The overarching principle is that of "the crossroads" which in voodoo refers to the intersection of the real world/spirit world. Voodoo is totally non-hierarchical so none of this stuff is written in stone. Rituals take place inside a building called a peristyle. It's ususally a makeshift building that has a pole in the center. People gather around the pole, make sacrifices to the loa and then the loa possesses various people, dance around, demand food to eat and occasionally make prophecies.

So Voodoo- it's fun. Still haven't figured out how to make my own zombie, but I'm working on it.

Excellent!
This is actually the first book I read about Voudoun/Vodou etc. I found it informful, insighful, and personal. Maya served the Loa and it shows in her chapters dedicated to the individual Spirits. It is a shame that we lost her so early, Im sure she could have gone on and continued to aid the clarification of the negative misconceptions of Voudoun. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Haitian Voudoun, although be warned that parts read a bit too much academically (for me at least) and can make that section almost unbearable to read, but for the most part it is excellent.

Very Brave
Being that Vodou is a verbal Religion,compared to Islam or Christianity Maya Deren did a fantastic job! She explains and understands the religion more than many practioners I know.The video is also fantastic! I applaud her tremendously! What major leap.Many writer in Vodou now stumble when they try to attempt what Deren has over 50 years ago. ... Read more

Product Description

A passionate and insightful account that finds in Haiti's traumatic history the sources of its devastating present

Even before last year's earthquake destroyed much of the country, Haiti was known as a benighted place of poverty and corruption. Maligned and misunderstood, the nation has long been blamed by many for its own wretchedness. But as acclaimed historian Laurent Dubois demonstrates, Haiti's troubles owe more to a legacy of international punishment for the original sin of staging the only successful slave revolt in the world.

Dubois vividly depicts the isolation and impoverishment that followed the 1804 rebellion: the crushing indemnities imposed by the former French rulers, which initiated a cycle of debt; the multiple interventions by the U.S. armed forces, including a twenty-year occupation; and the internal divisions and political chaos that are the inevitable consequences of centuries of subversion. At the same time, he also explores Haiti's overlooked successes, as its revolution created a resilient culture insistent on autonomy and equality.

This is an indispensable book, revealing what lies behind the familiar moniker of "the poorest nation in the western hemisphere" and illuminating the foundations on which a new Haiti might yet emerge.