I'll talk about the book entitled The Making of the West Indies, first published in 1960. The book is the result of the collaboration of F.R Augier, S.C Gordon, A.G Hall and M. Reckford. In the preface of the book, we learn that two of the authors went to schools in England and two others went to school in the West Indies. What is interesting is that they went to school in different places but they attended the same course of history, consequently they learned the same thing. Each of them learned and/or did further research about the West Indies and then they put together their knowledge in order to write, and I quote, "a continuous story" of the West Indies.
The Making of the West Indies, what an original title. The authors could name their …show more content…
[: write on board] The parts are: "importing the society" [=colonisation]; "establishing the society" [=life in plantation, slavery ..] and finally, "establishing freedom" [after the slaves' emancipation, unification ..]. In these parts, [so, in the book] the authors deal with the main themes of the West Indian history namely the origins of the West Indian communities, the rivalries between powerful European countries (Spain; France; England, etc.) for their possession, plantations (evolution from tobacco to sugar for example), plantations lead to rivalries between the islands (competition on the market ..) and slavery. There is also an evocation of social institutions such as education and churches.
They authors deal with economical, social and political aspects of the West Indian history.
I would say that the first two parts are about the West Indies in general, that is the authors mention British West Indies but also French West Indies, Spanish .. To say it in other words, the authors talk about the time of conquest. They also talk about the conflicts between European countries [1st part]. Then they narrow their focus on the British and French West Indies and finally, they devote their last part to the British West Indies, with is the most significant part among …show more content…
The 1st part is devoted to discovery, colonisation, "wars" between European countries for possessing the islands, the reasons why Europeans went to the islands, slave trade .. In the second part, we have some hints about the social life in the plantations [=hierarchy among the different groups living there], the organisation of plantation and local governments and slavery. Eventually, the last part is about the life in the British West Indies after slaves' emancipation. How to deal with plantations now that there is no more workers? There is a need for new workers. They also talk about the 1st British West Indies federation (April 1958) : putting islands together under a single government (federal government) [=toward unity]. It's a bit like the situation in the United States. In a nutshell, the last part of the book is about life after emancipation and unity. One of the reasons why federation ends is the rivalry between the islands.
Conclusion: The book is very interesting and in terms of quality it is of a great value. The authors use illustrations as maps, figures which are very helpful to better understand what they talk about. Besides, the way the book is written is very simplistic and the structure, organisation enable the reader to follow the authors' arguments. However, there is something that upsets me (and this is very personal), it is the perspective adopted by the authors in the first part. History can't always be objective, it may be
The Making of the West Indies, what an original title. The authors could name their …show more content…
[: write on board] The parts are: "importing the society" [=colonisation]; "establishing the society" [=life in plantation, slavery ..] and finally, "establishing freedom" [after the slaves' emancipation, unification ..]. In these parts, [so, in the book] the authors deal with the main themes of the West Indian history namely the origins of the West Indian communities, the rivalries between powerful European countries (Spain; France; England, etc.) for their possession, plantations (evolution from tobacco to sugar for example), plantations lead to rivalries between the islands (competition on the market ..) and slavery. There is also an evocation of social institutions such as education and churches.
They authors deal with economical, social and political aspects of the West Indian history.
I would say that the first two parts are about the West Indies in general, that is the authors mention British West Indies but also French West Indies, Spanish .. To say it in other words, the authors talk about the time of conquest. They also talk about the conflicts between European countries [1st part]. Then they narrow their focus on the British and French West Indies and finally, they devote their last part to the British West Indies, with is the most significant part among …show more content…
The 1st part is devoted to discovery, colonisation, "wars" between European countries for possessing the islands, the reasons why Europeans went to the islands, slave trade .. In the second part, we have some hints about the social life in the plantations [=hierarchy among the different groups living there], the organisation of plantation and local governments and slavery. Eventually, the last part is about the life in the British West Indies after slaves' emancipation. How to deal with plantations now that there is no more workers? There is a need for new workers. They also talk about the 1st British West Indies federation (April 1958) : putting islands together under a single government (federal government) [=toward unity]. It's a bit like the situation in the United States. In a nutshell, the last part of the book is about life after emancipation and unity. One of the reasons why federation ends is the rivalry between the islands.
Conclusion: The book is very interesting and in terms of quality it is of a great value. The authors use illustrations as maps, figures which are very helpful to better understand what they talk about. Besides, the way the book is written is very simplistic and the structure, organisation enable the reader to follow the authors' arguments. However, there is something that upsets me (and this is very personal), it is the perspective adopted by the authors in the first part. History can't always be objective, it may be