| List of Illustrations | ix |
| Preface | xiii |
| 1 | Introduction | 1 |
| 2 | The Caribbean: A Geographic Preface | 19 |
| Defining the Caribbean | 19 |
| Climate and Weather Patterns in the Caribbean | 23 |
| Landforms in the Caribbean | 26 |
| The Caribbean Amerindian Population | 31 |
| Patterns of European Settlement After Conquest | 33 |
| The Rise and Fall of Sugarcane in the West Indies | 35 |
| Population Problems | 38 |
| Emigration from the Caribbean | 39 |
| Urbanization in the Caribbean | 41 |
| Economic Geography of the Caribbean | 43 |
| Conclusion | 48 |
| 3 | The Historical Context | 51 |
| Conquest and Colonization, 1492-1800 | 52 |
| Nation Building and Socioeconomic Transition in the Nineteenth Century | 60 |
| The Non-Spanish Caribbean in the Early Twentieth Century | 67 |
| The Emergence of U.S. Hegemony, 1898-1930s | 70 |
| The Emergence of Labor Organizations | 74 |
| War and Cold War, 1939-1959 | 75 |
| The Cuban Revolution | 78 |
| Conclusion | 80 |
| 4 | Caribbean Politics | 85 |
| The Past as Prelude | 85 |
| External Influences, Internal Dynamics, and New Forms | 87 |
| The Case of Puerto Rico | 91 |
| Socioeconomic Conditions and Political Consciousness | 94 |
| Postwar Transitions | 95 |
| The Case of the Dominican Republic | 102 |
| The Anglo-Caribbean | 103 |
| The Case of Jamaica | 104 |
| Decades of Challenge and Change: The 1970s and 1980s | 110 |
| The Case of Grenada | 113 |
| The Resurgence of U.S. Interventionism | 115 |
| The Case of Haiti | 119 |
| An Era of Uncertainty: The 1990s and 2000s | 121 |
| 5 | The Economies of the Caribbean | 129 |
| Common Economic History | 129 |
| Some Differences | 131 |
| Current Economic Structure | 133 |
| Current Economic Performance | 137 |
| Current and Projected Economic Challenges | 140 |
| Conclusion | 144 |
| 6 | International Relations | 149 |
| Caribbean International Relations: A Historical Overview | 151 |
| The Dynamics of Caribbean International Relations in the Modern Era | 156 |
| International Challenges Confronting the Caribbean | 170 |
| 7 | The Environment and Ecology | 179 |
| The Physical Setting | 180 |
| Historical and Recent Land Use Change | 184 |
| Climate Change and Caribbean Environments | 194 |
| Sustainability and the Environment: Some Reflections | 199 |
| 8 | Ethnicity, Race, Class, and Nationality | 209 |
| The Mix of Ethnicity, Race, Class, and Nationality Across the Caribbean | 211 |
| Historical Legacies | 212 |
| Ethnic, Racial, and National Minorities in Caribbean Society | 220 |
| Imagining the Caribbean Nation | 223 |
| Contemporary Realities and Caribbean Migrant Communities | 229 |
| Conclusion | 234 |
| 9 | Women and Development | 239 |
| The Sociocultural Context of Caribbean Women | 239 |
| Caribbean Women's Early Struggles | 243 |
| Women in the Hispanic Caribbean | 246 |
| Caribbean Women's Continuing Struggles | 247 |
| Gender, Class, and Familial Organization | 252 |
| The "Independent" Woman in the Contemporary Caribbean | 257 |
| Women and the Organization of American States | 259 |
| Conclusion | 259 |
| 10 | Religion in the Caribbean | 263 |
| Categories of Caribbean Religions | 264 |
| Working the Amalgam | 266 |
| Vodou | 273 |
| Santeria | 280 |
| The Rastafari and the Dread | 285 |
| Spiritual Baptists | 291 |
| Caribbean Religions in the Diaspora | 299 |
| Conclusion | 301 |
| 11 | Literature and Popular Culture | 305 |
| Indigenous Cultural Patterns | 306 |
| The Early Colonial Era: Material Changes and Cultural Adaptation | 309 |
| The Nineteenth Century: Toward Cultural Autonomy | 312 |
| The Early Twentieth Century: Literary Movements, Vernacular Writing, and Cultural Unification | 317 |
| The Mid-Twentieth Century: The Dialectic of Exile and Nationalism | 320 |
| The Late Twentieth Century and Beyond: The Dialectic of Return and Disillusionment | 324 |
| Conclusion | 328 |
| 12 | The Caribbean Diaspora | 333 |
| The Encounter with Europe: Domination of the Caribbean | 335 |
| Caribbean-North American Circulations, 1880-1970 | 338 |
| Caribbean Diaspora Networks, 1970s to the Present | 342 |
| Conclusion | 348 |
| 13 | Trends and Prospects | 355 |
| The Intergovernmental Dynamic | 356 |
| Transnational Civil Society | 359 |
| The Forum of Greater Caribbean Civil Society | 360 |
| The Future | 361 |
