Synopses & Reviews
Born in Trinidad, Eric Williams (1911-81) founded the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago's first modern political party in 1956, led the country to independence from the British culminating in 1962, and became the nation's first prime minister. Before entering politics, he was a professor at Howard University and wrote several books, including the classic
Capitalism and Slavery. In the first scholarly biography of Williams, Colin Palmer provides insights into Williams's personality that illuminate his life as a scholar and politician and his tremendous influence on the historiography and politics of the Caribbean.
Palmer focuses primarily on the fourteen-year period of struggles for independence in the Anglophone Caribbean. From 1956, when Williams became the chief minister of Trinidad and Tobago, to 1970, when the Black Power-inspired February Revolution brought his administration face to face with a younger generation intellectually indebted to his revolutionary thought, Williams was at the center of most of the conflicts and challenges that defined the region. He was most aggressive in advocating the creation of a West Indies federation to help the region assert itself in international political and economic arenas. Looking at the ideas of Williams as well as those of his Caribbean and African peers, Palmer demonstrates how the development of the modern Caribbean was inextricably intertwined with the evolution of a regional anticolonial consciousness.
Review
"An informative and useful account that greatly enhances our understanding of a man of tremendous political and intellectual acuity."
American Historical Review
Review
A delightfully well-written study.
Selwyn H. H. Carrington, Howard University
Review
Palmer's study is a major achievement and one fitting his brilliant and complex subject.
Winston James, Columbia University, author of Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia: Caribbean Radicalism in Early Twentieth-Century America
Review
[
Eric Williams and the Making of the Modern Caribbean] will be regarded as a foundation stone for future work on the Caribbean political and intellectual giant.
The Americas
Review
This book serves as a political biography of Trinidad and Tobago's best-known politician, educator, and historian, and as a diplomatic case study.
Choice
Synopsis
In this first scholarly assessment of Williams (1911-1981), founder of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago's first modern political party and the nation's first prime minister, Palmer explores his life as a scholar and politician and his tremendous influence on the historiography and politics of the Caribbean. Palmer focuses especially on a 14-year period of independence struggles in the Anglophone Caribbean, when Williams helped resolve regional disputes and promoted the creation of a pan-Caribbean federation.
Synopsis
"One of the most accessible and balanced treatments of the first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago (1956-81) to date. . . . Palmer is an elegant and engaging writer. His prose, spliced occasionally with the dark humour of political repartee, takes one effortlessly into the ebbs and flows of selected Caribbean political streams from 1956 to 1970."
--Canadian Journal of Latin American & Caribbean Studies "An informative and useful account that greatly enhances our understanding of a man of tremendous political and intellectual acuity."
American Historical Review "A highly successful addition to our knowledge of a major figure."
Hispanic American Historical Review A delightfully well-written study.
Selwyn H. H. Carrington, Howard University Palmer's study is a major achievement and one fitting his brilliant and complex subject.
Winston James, Columbia University, author of Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia: Caribbean Radicalism in Early Twentieth-Century America [Eric Williams and the Making of the Modern Caribbean] will be regarded as a foundation stone for future work on the Caribbean political and intellectual giant.
The Americas This book serves as a political biography of Trinidad and Tobago's best-known politician, educator, and historian, and as a diplomatic case study.
Choice
About the Author
Colin A. Palmer is Dodge Professor of History at Princeton University and author or coeditor of several books, including The Modern Caribbean.