Caribbean

by James A. Michener

In this acclaimed classic novel, James A. Michener sweeps readers off to the Caribbean, bringing to life the eternal allure and tumultuous history of this glittering string of islands. From the 1310 conquest of the Arawaks by cannibals to the decline of the Mayan empire, from Columbus's arrival to buccaneer Henry Morgan's notorious reign, from the bloody slave revolt on Haiti to the rise of Cuba's Fidel Castro, Caribbean packs seven hundred dramatic years into a tale teeming with revolution and romance, authentic characters and thunderous destinies. Through absorbing, magnificent prose, Michener captures the essence of the islands in all of their awe-inspiring scope and wonder.

Praise for Caribbean

"Michener is a master."--Boston Herald

"A grand epic . . . [James A. Michener] sympathizes with the struggles of the region's most oppressed, and succeeds in presenting the Caribbean in its rich diversity."--The Plain Dealer

"Remarkable and praiseworthy . . . utterly engaging."--The Washington Post Book World

"Even American tourists familiar with some of the serene islands will find themselves enlightened. . . . In Caribbean, there appears to be a strong aura of truth behind the storytelling."--The New York Times

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Classics, Travel, Novels, Adult Fiction

687 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

James Albert Michener is best known for his sweeping multi-generation historical fiction sagas, usually focusing on and titled after a particular geographical region. His first novel, Tales of the South Pacific , which inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Toward the end of his life, he created the Journey Prize, awarded annually for the year's best short story published by an emerging Canadian writer; founded an MFA program now, named the Michener Center for Writers, at the University of Texas at Austin; and made substantial contributions to the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, best known for its permanent collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings and a room containing Michener's own typewriter, books, and various memorabilia.

Michener's entry in Who's Who in America says he was born on Feb. 3, 1907. But he said in his 1992 memoirs that the circumstances of his birth remained cloudy and he did not know just when he was born or who his parents were.

Reviews

[TXGAL1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1989, CARIBBEAN is a 920 page work of historical fiction whose story is represented in sixteen chapters.

Each chapter selects a separate island to tell a slice of its history via a singular story. A great deal of despair, bloodshed and barbarity describes the force of man to achieve the hard quests for fame and fortune. The inhumane treatment of those who are different is continuously in the forefront.

I admire Michener’s work, but found this book to be difficult to read at times. Historical detail is abundant and it caused my eyes to wander, but I was steadfast that I would complete the book.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dedicated to a friend who once asked him to write about the region, James Michener turns his well researched storytelling not to one particular country, but instead to several of the islands in the Caribbean region. From the indigenous peoples to the European colonizers, historical personages like Sir Francis Drake and Admiral Horatio Nelson make their appearance and tales of rebellion, racism, and corruption lace into the historical timeline.

Because each chapter tends to jump from island to island, I felt myself less invested in some parts of the story. I think I prefer Michener's tales centering on a specific state or country and following it for many centuries.

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The chief character in this narrative is the Caribbean Sea, one of the world’s most alluring bodies of water, a rare gem among the oceans, defined by the islands that form a chain of lovely jewels to the north and east. Although bounded on the south and west by continental land masses, it is the islands that give the Caribbean its unique charm.”

Carribean by James Michener is a beautiful book capturing the magic of the Caribbean Sea and all of the countries that are part of that beautiful chain of islands and land masses. While traveling I always love reading books pertaining to the history of the area. And this was truly a wonderful find for me when perusing my library, I found this classic by James Michener. So while reading this beautiful book, we are sailing the Pacific Ocean from California to Baja, Mexico and through the Caribbean along the Mexican continent and on to Central America to the Panama Canal. And then to Colombia and the Yucatán Peninsula before sailing up the Atlantic Coast to Florida. And this book explores the remarkable history of this area from the pre-Colombian period of the native Arawak tribes to modern times. Written in sixteen chapters, some loosely connected, we witness the history of this region from many different perspectives. It was magical. It was also a clash of many cultures as we witness the stories of the native Caribbean, Spanish, French, British and North American.

Opening the book was the chapter: A Hedge of Croton highlighting the invasion of the Caribs in the Arawak homelands followed by the death of the Mayan culture and the adventures of Christopher Columbus carrying the weight of European ambition and brutality in Hispaniola. But some of my favorite chapters were the adventures of Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins and Henry Morgan dominating the narrative as they wage a violent competition for control of this rich territory. At the heart of the narrative of the Carribean is the tragic and harrowing story of slavery and rebellion that still makes up much of the fabric of the region today. The slave uprising in Haiti is a significant chapter as it vividly portrays human resilience in the midst of chaos and bloodshed. It was only fitting that the book concluded with a chapter on the cultural identify of Cuba striving to overcome the devastating effects and long lasting scars of Colonialism. But in the final chapter, The Golden Era, a character is reunited with previous characters to end this epic tale of the Caribbean Sea. This was a well researched and powerful book that captures the essence of this glittering string of islands in all of its vast scope and wonder.

“Traveler, you who sail into the Caribbean in silvered yacht or gilded cruise ship, pause as you enter these waters to remember that deep below rest three men of honor who helped determine the history of this onetime Spanish Lake; Sir John Hawkins, builder of the English Navy; Sir Francis Drake, conquerer of all known seas; and Admiral Ledesma, stubborn enhancer of his king’s prerogatives and the interests of his own strong family.”

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this novel , Michener takes us throught he ages in the magnifficent Caribbean. While it may be an exaggeration to refer to the Caribbean as a microcosm of the world , it is certainly a rich and diverse and fascinating region , it's tropical beauty matched by it's vibrant and interesting people.
Beginning on the island of Dominica , where the Arawaks, a beautiful , gentle and cultured people where displaced by the fierce and warlike Caribs , it continues through the adventures in the Caribeean of Christopeher Columbus , the great pirate admirals like Francis Drake , the struggles of the Spanish , French , British , Dutch and Engish over these islands, the cruelty of slavery , and the equally savage slave uprisings , how the turbulence of the English Civil War and the French Revolutions reached these islands , right up to the challenges of the present day , including a chapter about the Rastafari movement , and about the tyranny on Cuba of Fidel Castro , and the Cuban exile community in Miami. The book also covers a fictional island called All Saints.

While slow in parts , it is overall a fascinating and entertaining read.

[Susanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is typical of Michener's work, one of the main strong points of this book is that it's hugely informative. I learned a great deal about the turbulent, often tragic history of the Caribbean. I found it interesting, as I've been to the region several times -- I'm even getting married there in a few months -- but was never really aware of its history, aside from what I learned from visits to the typical historic tourism sites like Tulum, Chichen Itza, etc.

Rather than following the pattern of novels like Chesapeake and Hawaii, which follow a set of families more or less continuously over a certain time period, Caribbean tells the story in several discrete episodes: there's a story about a character in some region, then it moves on to something else, and we may see something about that character's great-great-great-grandchild in a couple of hundred pages. The episodes of this book are made even more separate by the fact that, in this novel, Michener chose not to restrict himself to any one Caribbean island, so the story jumps around in space as well as in time.

Some people might object to the somewhat discontinuous nature of the story, but I thought that it mostly worked quite well. As a natural consequence of the way the story was told, some of the chapters were quite strong while others were weaker. The very first chapter dealing with the Arawaks and the Carib was excellent -- I would have liked to have more chapters dealing with the indigenous population, but this story only included two (the other one dealing with the Maya), at which point the indigenous people more or less disappeared from the story. The chapter about the Haitian slave revolt is outstanding: the book is almost worth purchasing just for that chapter alone. Personally, I felt that most of the chapters dealing with the Spanish domination of the Caribbean were a bit dry and overlong, and I thought that the chapter on the Maya could have been much more interesting than it was.

The other problem I had with this book was Michener's decision to include a fictional Caribbean island, All Saints. The chapters taking place on All Saints weren't particularly interesting, and I just didn't quite understand what purpose the island gave to the story. All Saints was portrayed as having two defining characteristics to the story, namely racial segregation and love of cricket. My thought was that, if these are characteristics common to the Caribbean, then they could have been dealt with using one of the real islands as a backdrop, and if they AREN'T typical of the Caribbean, then they really don't have a place in a book whose main goal is to give readers an understanding of the Caribbean islands.

Ultimately, though, this is a book I quite enjoyed. It had its flaws, but overall I thought it was very good.

[Wally · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Caribbean is a great book spanning the centuries from 1300 to 1989. It starts off with the Arawak and Carib Indians and intertwines history and story throughout the early European exploration of the Caribbean, the Spanish dominance during the 1500's, the piracy of Henry Morgan, the struggle between the Spanish, French, and English. Through a well told tale you can learn about the sugar plantations, the importation of slaves from Africa (who mostly comprise the population of the Caribbean today) the rise of Rastafarian, Haitian voodoo, and even the Cuban Revolution. Over 600 pages but they turn quickly as you get engrossed in the book.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

The picture Michener paints of the Caribbean is a macabre canvas indeed. You'll see very little of what tourists are exposed to in the jeweled Sea. The Caribbean was / is a sordid, violent place. There are small threads that let one sort of follow a few genealogies, but mostly each chapter is a stand alone snapshot of the islands' history. Michener does island hop, so you do learn of each island's past. Michener calls Caribbean a narrative and that it is.

I think I finished this saga for spite. Several times I was going to stop reading, but finally the human slaughter stopped long enough to let me breathe a sigh of relief. For sure, you will learn things about Columbus you wish you never knew, but it is about the time frame which begins Michener's history. First, a chapter of an island's savagery, which sets the tone for the entire novel. The tale ends in the late 1980s.

Good luck staying with this. It makes the middle ages of England and Europe pale by comparison.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Less a novel than a term paper for a high school Caribbean history class. The successful "multi-generational saga" formula that Michener milked in other epics fails him completely here -- or, rather, he fails the formula. I'd say he phoned it in, but I've never experienced a phone call this mundane ... or this long.

[Patryx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oltre a questo, ho letto altri due libri di J. Michener (La baia e Alaska) che mi sono piaciuti molto nonostante i loro limiti (personaggi stereotipati, vicende personali che si ripetono); quello che ho apprezzato maggiormente in entrambi è la struttura: un capitolo per ogni periodo storico maggiormente rilevante per il paese protagonista, illustrato attraverso la vita di personaggi immaginari che, magari, si trovano a contatto con personaggi storici.
In Caraibi questa struttura non ha funzionato: la stereotipia dei personaggi è veramente eccessiva (con punte di pregiudizi razziali e legati al genere imbarazzanti), la traduzione non particolarmente curata (con termini che in italiano non sono quelli corretti per esprimere il concetto che si vuole veicolare, uno per tutti: definire colorate le persone che hanno ascendenti non riconducibili esclusivamente alla pelle bianca o nera) e, soprattutto, la banalizzazione delle vicende di personaggi famosi (Cristoforo Colombo, Drake, Morgan, Nelson, Toussaint Louverture) le cui vite, riportate in poche pagine, sembrano più che altro una serie di aneddoti scollegati dal contesto storico in cui hanno vissuto.
Più riusciti sono gli ultimi due capitoli (dedicati uno ai cubani esuli a Miami e l'altro alle vicende di Haiti) forse perché l'autore si ispira a fatti a lui contemporanei, anzi è proprio per questi due capitoli che sono stata clemente nella valutazione.
Mi dispiace perché gli altri libri che avevo letto mi avevano indotta ad avere aspettative diverse: non un romanzo con personaggi memorabili, ma una serie di vicende in grado di restituire lo spirito del luogo riportato nel titolo.

[Janice]

I'm kind of surprised that I'm abandoning this book. I love Michener's books. But this is twice that I've put it down and not picked it back up to finish. It reads more like a textbook than a novel. Usually, he mixes his history in a novelized style. This one, not so much.

[Juliet Doubledee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michener once again proves he is a master of mixing well-researched historical information with a strong fictional story line. Each prominent Caribbean location is covered in its' own chapter; seamlessly weaving historical fact, prominent personalities, and generations of fictional families together.

Beginning with an Arawak couple on Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) in 1310, the book travels through time to Haiti just after the end of Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier's dictatorship in 1986. In between the reader learns of the Maya on Cozumel, the introduction of Europeans to the Caribbean by Christopher Columbus (along with his eventual down fall), and the ongoing battles between the Spanish, English, French and Dutch. Also, how sugar plantations were founded and the effects of importing african slave labor to the area. Towards the end of the book the Rastafarian movement, and Fidel Castro's Cuba are discussed.

This is the perfect book to read while relaxing my a pool, or laying on a beach -- especially if you have travelled to the Caribbean on vacation. My only criticism of the book is, why Michener felt he needed to created the fictitious island of "All Saints" when he had plenty of real history to squeeze into this 600+ page novel.

[Mark Dougherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

While aware of Michener for many years, I’d not attempted any of his works as historical fiction is a lesser interest for me. However, 10 days in the “Spanish Lake” were the perfect setting for this one. His blend of deep research and weaving together historical events across several islands made for both interesting and satisfying reading. Spanning over 600 years, he made both famous historical characters and those of his own invention deeply engaging, overcoming the limitations of character development within a single chapter. While a more consistent through line would have been an improvement for me, the themes of competition among nations, the hugely negative impacts of slavery, and racial / national identity brought together a story with both an enjoyable conclusion and real-world lessons

[Frank Theising · Rating 2 out of 5]

In ''Caribbean,'' Michener follows the same formula used successfully in many of his other novels like Poland or Chesapeake: hopping from place to place, inventing fictional characters who interact with historical figures, and explaining historical events and their context through the lives of those characters. It worked masterfully in many of his other novels but unfortunately fell short in this novel. I think this is largely because “Caribbean” has no central characters or families that appear consistently throughout the book. The very diversity of the islands, each influenced differently by various Spanish, English, French, Dutch, and African cultures tends to undermine Michener’s typical method of telling the history of a region by following a few key fictional families over time. The vast cultural mosaic of the region necessitates a constant introduction of new characters that have no relation to one another from chapter to chapter. Instead of a flowing history, we are left with a choppy patchwork of stories awkwardly forced together. Perhaps that in itself sheds some light on the turbulent history of the Caribbean Islands.

The novel covers almost 700 years of Caribbean History starting with the native Arawak Indians in the 1300s and ending in 1989 when the novel was published. Despite the book’s flaws Michener, true to form, does not shy away from covering the disturbing history of mankind’s interactions with one another including the conquests, slavery, and colonialism that once flourished in the Caribbean and continues to influence the region to this day. Its starts with the native Arawak Indians on the island of Dominica who would be overrun by the ferocious and cannibalistic Carib Indians.

The novel continues with the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the 400 year period of Spanish domination in the “Spanish Lake,” and the subsequent rivalry between Spain and England. This backdrop is used to recount the adventures of Sir Francis Drake, Henry Morgan, and Horatio Nelson. What I found particularly fascinating was the geo-strategic importance these islands played in European and world affairs. The wealth generated by the sugar plantations made many of these islands more valuable than most of the colonies on the mainland at the time. Likewise, the plantation owners on Jamaica and other British isles were able to acquire seats in Parliament enabling them to punch way above their weight in forcing political decisions of consequence to the entire British Empire. For instance, many of the onerous restrictions on the flow of trade for the colonies on the American mainland were initiated by MPs whose seats represented the West Indies. This was a slap in the face to American patriots popularizing the phrase “no taxation without representation” and no doubt directly contributed to the American Revolution.

Michener does help to explain the unique character of many of the islands. Oliver Cromwell and the English Civil War are used to recount the history of Barbados, commonly referred to as “Little England.” French verses English attitudes towards mixed-race (creole) relations and the export of the French Terror into the islands are used to paint a picture of life in Guadeloupe. The Haitian revolution is told through the story of fictional general Cesar Vaval. Communist Cuba is explored through the eyes of Cuban refugees who have made a prosperous new life for themselves in Miami. Michener explores, in excruciating detail, the meaning and influence of Rastafarianism in Jamaica and other islands. He explores the introduction of Indians (from India) from lower castes into the islands to do many of the menial jobs that former slave refuse to do after slavery is abolished.

While I have a much greater appreciation for the Caribbean, at over 800 pages the book turned into much more of a slog than his other books and I found myself struggling to get through the last third of the book. Thus far, this ranks as my least favorite Michener book.

[Lani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I absolutely ADORED Hawaii and have picked up some other Michener books for free since. None have lived up to Hawaii, but there are certainly some enjoyable bits in the 800 pages of Caribbean.

I understand that the Caribbean is not a confederation of islands and that each island has its own tumultuous history. Michener's narrative really suffers from trying to pull all of these together, particularly in the final chapter where people from each island all fall into place on a cruise. It seemed like a last ditch attempt to pull all of these unrelated threads together and make them seem like a book rather than a series of vignettes.

There certainly were sections that I found enjoyable, but I'm not sure those justified reading the whole book. If I were a teacher some of these might be chapters I would assign seperately to give students a feel for the history of an island.

The region clearly has a very rich history and I enjoyed learning what I did from the reading. However it was so long-winded and scattershot that I can't say I felt the book was very good.

[Jifu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ever since I read the 1959 classic Hawaii, I've been hoping for a similar experience with Michener's other works ever since, to little avail - and this latest foray was no different. I have started Caribbean several times, the most recent being when I was actually in the Caribbean itself to try and help boost my enthusiasm, but I just cannot get into it.

It reads less like an epic historical fiction piece that it wants to be, and more like a collection of history textbook sections with some plot and dialogue mixed in. That, and I mostly find Michener's treatment of his indigenous characters a bit off-putting. They're somehow well-researched, yet oddly exoticized at the same time. It doesn't help that a decent amount of what has been presented as fact has already been called into question by more recent historical research - in particular his first chapter on the Arawaks and the cannibalistic Caribs (from what I have read, many experts feel that reports of cannibalism amongst some indigenous Caribbean peoples were just claims by European settlers to justify many of their actions).

I think that I have tried this book for the final time. I am glad that others have enjoyed this, but I think it's time I realize that this particular title - and maybe most of Michener's work in general - just isn't for me.

[Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

James A. Michener never disappoints.

[Ellie Bach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dense but amazing and interesting.

[David Earle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally finished reading “Caribbean” by James A. Michener! This is a book that I began reading when I was actually sailing the Caribbean Sea last October. But throughout this period I was busy with the publication of my own novel, “Life Is But A Dream” and the month spent down in Australia for the production of my play “Postnuptials” that didn’t, to my surprise, allow me any time to read. This was also a huge book at 806 pages with teeny-tiny text….the definite definition of an epic. But I love epics! And I really enjoyed this book! Although I didn’t plow through it as fast as I did with Michener’s “Hawaii” – another epic – it was an enthralling education on the history of the Caribbean. I have to hand it to Michener for the enormous amount of research he did when writing this novel. It begins at the very beginning with the peaceful Arawak Indians and the warrior/cannibal Carib Indians (from which the name Caribbean is derived). From there it covers the Maya empire and their demise from greatness. Then enter the white man – Christopher Columbus – and all the other famous explorers, captains, pirates, buccaneers and slave ships that followed over the next several hundred years (and chapters in the book). The constant battles over these islands for colonial occupation by the Spanish, English, French and Dutch where these islands would fall into the hands of one or the other, some for short periods of time, others longer lasting, was forever ongoing. He tells in great depth the valuable economic trade commodity of sugar that would later replace that of the Spanish galleons laden with silver and gold that was brought over from Peru (and traversed by mule train from Panama City to Porto Bello on the Gulf side). The great sugar plantations and the brutality by which the slaves labored under for four hundred years is described in horrific detail. In fact, between the sickening treatment of slaves and prisoners of sparing countries, and the indigenous Indians and citizens of the cities and towns overthrown in war and pirate raids, this is what I came away with most from the book…..the amount of blood from massacres, executions, battles and torture that prevailed over the West Indies. Having sailed the Caribbean many times and visiting nearly every island and the surrounding land masses, I have always been aware – as any tourist would – of the incredible beauty and wonderful hospitality that has greeted me at every port, but I was very unaware of the dark past of these places (and what civilization on earth doesn’t have a dark past?). Michener brings his book along through the nineteenth and twentieth century’s (right up to 1989 when his book was published) touching upon the histories of practically all the islands – even devoting full chapters to several, such as; Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti, Guadeloupe, Trinidad, Cuba, St. John and the powerful fortress city of Cartagena – so it was of some surprise and dismay that he found a need to invent a fictional island called All Saints. Although he fills his book with fictional characters that he intermingles with non-fictional historic characters that I can fully understand and appreciate for the telling of the many stories throughout the book, I cannot understand why with so many multifaceted islands and countries to choose from in the Caribbean, he would come up with a fictional island for one full chapter that is mentioned again and again afterward until the end. Nevertheless, this aside, I enjoyed the book, especially the final chapter, and LOVED the ending!

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well worth reading. There are certainly plenty of intractable problems that baffle me. I have a much better understanding of the region as a result of reading.

[Cheryl Gatling]

What can I say about a sprawling Michener novel? It's not like I can summarize the plot. There are at least 20 plots. He begins by telling the story of the conflict between the peaceful Arawak Indians, and the more warlike Caribs who wiped them out. He goes on to tell the stories of various Caribbean islands, and their colonization by the Spanish, the French, the English, and the Danes (that the Danes had Caribbean colonies was something I did not know). He follows family lines forward through centuries of history where possible. He tries tying the story lines together at the end through the framing device of an educational cruise. It is ambitious, and not a simple thing to do, since the Caribbean is not one thing, but is made up of multiple geographies, multiple languages and cultures. But it mostly works. Because that's what Michener does.

In one of his stories, Michener says of his character, a scholar, that he had trouble deciding whether to major in literature, history, or sociology in college. I thought, well, if that isn't Michener himself. The literature is in the storytelling. I suspect that Michener's novels are not viewed as great literature, but he can paint a vivid picture, and grab your interest, and keep you turning pages to find out what is going to happen, and if that isn't literature enough, then he also makes reference to the great artists and writers of the time period he is describing. His interest in history is obvious. There are battles. There is politics. There is regime change.

And there is sociology. Some of the sociological phenomena he describes are: the role of the ball game in Arawak society; the Spanish emphasis on family loyalty, and how it led to nepotism and corruption, and how it did not promote stable systems of government; the phenomenon of zombies on Haiti; a complicated system of race on the English island of All Saints, based on fine divisions of skin color, and about Rastafarianism, exported from Jamaica.

I said that Michener ties all these ideas together at the end with an educational cruise, which visits the various islands, and retells the histories and cultures of each. But there is another unifying theme, and that is the croton plant, which grows in different colors, different sizes and different shapes, and yet is always beautiful. In diversity, beauty. Just like the varied islands and peoples of the Caribbean.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never thought of Michener as someone with any great mastery of prose. Certainly, no memorable lines, passages, or even few pages. And, aside from his first work, Tales of the South Pacific, he never has managed any truly memorable characterizations, much less atmosphere or imagery. The one thing he can do well is tell a story. In Caribbean, he doesn't let the reader down in this regard, at least not for the first three fifths of the book. But, alas, the novel moves away from strictly historical fiction to a contemporary setting, and the result is leaden. The fictional island of All Saints utterly lacks in appeal. And why would Michener think that pages and chapters devoted to cricket would ever hold people's interest? Worse, the attempt at throwing in a spy thriller twist on All Saints comes off as ludicrous. Finally, there are the last couple of chapters on the Hindu and Haitian scholars and their rendezvous with destiny. All the pomposity Michener feeds into academe, frankly, is almost vomit worthy. Overwhelmingly trite, this book, as it does a checklist of all the races and nationalities in the region.. It feels like it was written by some condescending orthodox establishment limousine liberal from the 1970s, with an office in the census bureau.

[Mark Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent insight into the islands. Only took me 7 years to finish it! Actually, I read half over Christmas 2012, and finished it this Christmas, both coincided with trips to Little Cayman, so I was able to experience the Caribbean firsthand.

There are obviously more islands that Michener was able to cover in any depth, but the Caribbean experience seems to be remarkably similar all over the islands - most of the native influence is gone, and the rest is European and African, colored by the slave trade and the sugar trade. Remarkably horrific time in human history.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not the best Michener book I have read, but, as is typical for him, it was a very entertaining and informative romp through Caribbean history. One warning: if you are reading this in connection with a Caribbean vacation, I highly recommend getting at least halfway through this book before you get on the plane. It turns out the history of the Caribbean is very upsetting and makes for an unsettling beach read.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read

I accept nothing less than excellence from Mr. Michener's books. I am not disappointed in the present book. He starts with Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Caribbean Islands and ends with the melding of two souls who bring together what is best about the Caribbean Islands. The human union could be a picture of how the islands could join together for a better life for its citizens.

Thank you, Mr. Michener, for a good read.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Michener is one of my favorite authors. I learned so many things about the Carribean and its history. It' is just not sandy beaches and palm trees, but about the slavery and piracy and the quest for power between the European nations. This book takes you from Cuba to Barbados to Panama and the Yucatan, the rum trade and sugar trade, Rastafarians and Hindu. So many things I never knew!

[Anannya Uberoi · Rating 5 out of 5]

History has never been so interesting, nor more alive before my eyes.

[Leib Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 Stars
"Selected bits of a long, complex, and fascinating history."
James Michener
"Caribbean"
*******

Of the book:

669 pps of prose/16 chapters~41 pps/ chapter. (On average, about 400 pages shorter than the average Michener novel.)

The tiny print in this edition makes it read more like it is about 1300 pages. Or, about the length of any three novels.

From the outset, Michener lets us know that he will only deal with a subset of all of the countries in the Caribbean, owing to constraints of space and time. (The Bahamas is an interesting place, but Michener excludes because it is not technically part of the Caribbean. He does explain why he made this choice, although almost every other classification of Caribbean countries includes Bahamas.)

It is true that there are so many of these countries with such a long and complicated history, that each of them could have been a book in its own right. And in that case, Michener would have had to write another dozen multi-generational sagas and I don't think that any normal human being has that much in them.

The author gives us a subset of all of the islands that make up the Caribbean, and of the subset each has a limited fraction of time.

THEMES***

Seems like in prehistory so much happened that is completely the same and far away places.

1. There is human sacrifice in the Mayan empire, and also in what later became Israel. (I can't figure out for the life of me why so many unrelated people independently conclude that nature needs human blood to take its course.)

There is a Temple in both places, and there are priests.

2. The secular government and the religious government are codependent in some way. (Prehistoric and current Israel .)

3. Some people live peacefully on an island, and then much harsher conquering people come along to slaughter them. (It has been before the Maori slaughtering Moriori. But, in this case it is the Caribs slaughtering the Arawaks.)

One Empire conquers another, and they see fit to make use of the Men of Words (clergy, scholars) that are already there. Much earlier, it was the Romans making use of Greek scholars. In this case, it appears to be the Aztecs making use of Mayan priests.

4. Some advanced society exists somewhere for hundreds of years and then, it auto-catalytically collapses. (Han Dynasty. Tang Dynasty. Countless others.)

CHAPTERS***

(Synopsis of each chapter.)

1. Exposition of peaceful Arawaks and their conquest by the much more violent Caribs. (Dominica.)

2. Brief exposition of sophisticated Mayan culture/astronomy as seen through the eyes of conquered Mayans at the tail end of the crumbling Aztec empire. (Mexico.)

3. Christopher Columbus went back to Spain as a prisoner because after his foray onto Hispaniola.....he did a lot of bad things. (Mass murder of indigenous people. Arbitrary execution of political opponents. Pilfering. Nepotism.)? p.74

4. Even though it seems to be forgotten, Spain was initially the largest naval power, although they were displaced over a relatively short period of time by England. (How many people know that Jamaica used to be a Spanish colony?) The English dealt in statecraft and left behind functioning self-governing colonies, but the Spaniards were extremely poor at this and left behind corrupt basket cases.

5. Barbados is a place that started out mostly black almost from the very beginning, and somehow they never saw fit to separate from The Crown for almost four centuries (although that is expected to change by the end of 2021). As it is a smaller place, after slavery was finished black people and white people had to stay there and work things out together. (No place to hide, as in much bigger places.)

6. Lots of movement of people and goods--and therefore pirates-- as the great naval powers of the time (Holland, Spain, Britain) worked on defining what their role would be in that part of the New World. This chapter is worth it in its own right because it undoes the mythology created by movies such as pirates of the caribbean.

7. Jamaica/St. John. The relationship between the African slaves and the whites was quite different because the latter were only 8% of the population of the island. (And this led to 50 slave rebellions just between five Islands, with all Islands experiencing at least one rebellion).

Sugar and rum were the main exports there. The English on West Indian islands still participated in Parliament (as a result of purchasing the seats from "rotten boroughs"), and since they had representation for their taxation then they did not have their own version of the American revolution. Denmark was also in on the game.

England misfired on the task of chasing Spain out of the Caribbean (cholera, yellow fever, and inept military leadership).

The reason that Canada became an English possession and Martinique went back to France was lobbying by the Sugar Interest in Parliament.

8. Exposition of the life of a naval captain, as given by the representative example of real life Horatio Nelson. Most of these men were glory seekers and depended on the dowry of their wives to finance them, because England did not pay them particularly well when they commissioned them.

9. French Caribbean. (Guadeloupe and Martinique. These are set up as a foil to Haiti.)

10. Haiti. A very long and bloody history, almost all of which was the responsibility of france. Even though Haiti is what it is, there's no reason it could not have been different. And the problems that they're having in current times go back many centuries.

11. Jamaica (again), but this time at the point of free colored rebellions leading into martial law. Pivotal-but-forgotten figure George Williams Gordon.

12. A MYTHICAL composite of several islands ("All Saints"), and a practical description of the Pre WWII caste system / extreme color prejudice that went therewith. (It's very similar actually to what happened in India.) A representative population of 29,000 people with 12 different castes. (1=all white and from England-->12= all Negroid blood.)

13. Brief expedition of Trinidad Indians, one of whom goes on to become a professional scholar. (13 years in a PhD program.) Subplot of an immigration scam to the us.

14. Accurate details of the tenants of Rastafarianism. Discussion of what is going to fill the void after the end of colonialism. Pan-Africanism? Caribbean unity? Who are the good blacks? Light skin elite? Where does everyone else fit?

15. The Cuban Infestation of Miami. Michener tries to put a positive spin on the excessive Cuban immigration to the United States after Castro took over, but the situation that we have is: idiots in the United States government getting involved in something that does not concern them and bringing an invasive population to the United States.

16. Continuing poverty of Haiti, as well as the resting point of most of the other countries featured in current times.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS***

1. Population replacement is a thing that has been going on for a very long time. It is beyond me why people in this day and age torture themselves over Native American population replacement when this is far from the first time that it has happened.

2. Yes, there have been black people outside of Africa that have replaced indigenous populations. (That's the story of almost all of the Caribbean.)

3. Some countries are naturally very skilled at statecraft, and others are very poor at the same.

Primo: Spanish colonies have had a very hard go of statecraft, but the groundwork for their inability to do such was laid down 500 years ago (p.96): Even before they came to the United States to try to only look for gold, they made the same mistakes in the Caribbean islands before and did everything except bring practical men of skills to help build a future country. (p.67)

Secundo: French colonies had a mixed record. The smaller places such as Guadalupe and Martinique turned out to be successful colonies - although they were relatively simpler projects. Tenfold larger Haiti was a much more ambitious project at which they failed miserably.

Tertio: the English colonies were much more successful at all scales.

4. The bitter religious conflict of one generation is the literary entertainment of the next. (Ch. 4.) Here, it was English Protestants against Spanish/English Catholics. (But, it's before been Huguenots versus Papists. Or Hasidim versus Mitnagdim.)

5. Dutchmen show up again and again in Michener books: as farmers and later statesmen (in his chronicle of South africa); as traders and seafarers (this book); as a colonized people; as colonizers.

6. How do people so often self-organize into a couple of warring tribes? In this book, we have Cavaliers versus Roundheads acting in the same way that current Democrats and Republicans do against each other.

7. Michener has explored the theme several times of: Some people go from Point A to Point B and they recreate a snapshot of the first place in the second that outlasts the first. Here we have Royalists in Barbados outliving the original monarchy in England. (Michener wrote an entire book about Dutchmen arriving in South Africa in the 17th century and continuing that life for the next four centuries.)

It was more of the same when he talked about the feelings of the upper crust of the islands (in the chapter dealing with the fictitious All Saints). Those people considered themselves English--not British--because they had come there before the formation of the United Kingdom.

8. Trade, rent seeking and lobbying have been going on for a very long time. I don't think there's a government in the world that can-- or wants to-- bring it under control.

9. So much of history seems completely fortuitous: Who would predict a Spanish army of 3000 only losing 200 of their own against an English military of 28, 000-- which lost 18,000. Who would have expected the loss of 85% of European troops on Haiti owing to yellow fever? Slaves on Barbados had to learn to work with the white people there, because they were together in close proximity. Larger islands do not have that opportunity to learn that.

10. (pps.420,424). For the life of me, I don't know why anybody believes in this concept of Pan-African unity. Many of these chapters show black people divided against each other. (What on Earth was Marcus Garvey on about?)

-In the case of Haiti, it was slaves against free blacks.

-In the case of Jamaica, The Maroons captured slaves and returned them to White owners. And for some reason or another Maroons took an interest in Black rebellion - - by massacring black rioters. (Maroons had lived outside of colonial Jamaican Society for at least a couple of centuries--not even speaking English.)

11. Then, as now (and since the beginning of the written word), Men of Words stake out positions in a conflict not because they know the participants, but because a situation exists into which they can insinuate themselves in the role of angels. (In the blacks' corner: Darwin / Spencer/Huxley/ John Bright/John Stuart Mill; In the whites' corner: Thomas Carlysle / Charles Dickens/Charles Kingsley / Alfred Tennyson.)

12. The Caribbean was a place where many battles between Distant Powers were fought out because that was the safest place to do it. Cavaliers and Roundheads in Barbados. Royalists and Rebels in Guadeloupe, 144 years later. Lots of naval warfare between France, Spain and England (as a substitute for more costly land wars in the mother countries.)

13. Treaties sorting out who got what were completely fortuitous, and though it is what it is there's no reason that it might not have been different. Louisiana might have been for Spain. Canada might have been all for France in exchange for several Caribbean islands all for England.

14. Indians show up in this Michener book (Ch 13) in the same way that they showed up in his other book on South Africa ("Covenant"): initially brought in as slaves, ultimately becoming merchants, too good to marry black people, with a strong sense of cultural heritage, and slowly persistent in their rise to the top. (They economically overtook Afro-Trinidadians many decades ago. Economic power>>Political power.)

15. (p.502). "Social change/justice" has a long pedigree, and it is always a topic for academic elites-played over the head of people that they claim to lead but want no part of. American academia is a vector to transfer the stupidity from one place to the next.

16. Ch. 14. It seems like the most prolific innovators-- in the field of bizarre religions, that is-- are black people. Here, we get a taste of Rastafarianism. (Of course, I have read about Hebrew Israelites, with which this mishegoss has significant links.) One of the characters in my last book (a book of stories about female prisoners) was a Rastafarian and she said that she was tired of their being stereotyped as jobless, weed-smoking bums.

I can say that she has an uphill battle on her hands.

17. Neutrality and non-alignment are the best choice, and the US government has not been able to figure that out since World War I. In this book, it shows those fools getting involved with Cuba and bringing in the current Cuban infestation--most particularly with the Mariel boat lift. ("Minnesotan Somalis" are not new and the stupidity of Congress is the direct explanation for the existence of Ihlan Omar.)

18. ACLU is always and everywhere bad news.

19. Cautionary tales for black revolutionaries:

a. The Castro Revolution passed black people in Cuba by. So much for that.

b. Michener asks the uncomfortable question (p.619): "If Haiti had been an independent, self-governing Republic rule only by blacks since 1804, and if it had achieved so pitifully little for its people, what did that say about the ability of blacks to govern?"

20. A bit of Economics. The resource curse actually happened to black people in the Caribbean long before it happened to blacks in Africa. Sugar in one case, and oil in the other.

Verdict: A very time consuming read, however strongly recommended period

New Vocabulary:

Agouti
Manioc
Croton
Coney
Carom shot
Propitiatory
Stela/stelae
Vista
Aperture
Gibbet
Caballero
Chandler
Clinker (-built)
Carvel (-built)
Strake
Peculator
Frigate
Hie(d)
Choler
Cockade
Weskit
Verger
Unguent
Collop
Muscovado
Boucanier/buccaneer
Filibustering (original meaning of the word)
Barbados
Canoa
Saturnalia
Woolding
Spar (shipping)
Cutlass
Ratoon
Puncheon
Stentorian
Baronetcy
Fife
Hied (hie)
Ramparts
Malefactors
Hogshead
Navy braid (insignia)
Croton
Fustian
Creole (both the French AND English usages)
Rapier
Traduce
Peccary
Stanchion
Aiguillette
Gauleite
Papiamento
Carrel

A lot of words heretofore-unknown-to-be from the Carib language. (Cannibal. Hurricane. Canoe. Cigar. Barbecue.)

[Sasha (bahareads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Caribbean by James Mitchener covers a large span of history, from the history of indigenous people of the Caribbean up to when the book was published. He covers all the different empires in The Caribbean from the Spanish to the French, Dutch, and English. He attempts to cover major points of Caribbean history through these different empires.
I enjoyed the chapter setups. Even though, Mitchener went from Point of View to Point of View with the different characters, the stories were connected enough or flowed into each other well enough to follow. Throughout the book I kept wondering, “where is The Bahamas?” But at the very end of the book, with his ‘the setting’ page, I see he chose to exclude The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands from the book completely. To me that was an interesting narrative choice, though The Bahamas is not in the Caribbean Sea. It is a part of the Caribbean in every other way. It is the place where Columbus first landed and the first interaction between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ world. Nassau, New Providence also played a large role in the Golden Age of Piracy among other historical events, so I was disappointed to see its exclusion. The one chapter where he did mention The Bahamas (Chapter 5) made me wonder what he was citing or where he was drawing his information from. The Bahamas was barely an established English colony by 1650 as the first English settlers created a colony in 1647. So the likelihood of the colony weighing in on important government matters would have been very unlikely.
I have always enjoyed reading historical fiction. I liked elements of Caribbean; it was a mammoth task to try and write a whole history of the Caribbean. I believe a number of the characters fall into the White Savior trope, particularly in latter half of the book. I am aware of racism throughout history but some of the POVs were apologetically racist. Racism is even acknowledged in the book and characters shift and change. But the lens through which, not only the characters see people of color, but also the way Mitchener describes people of color rubbed me the wrong way at times. There is an exotification of indigenous people with how they are physically described and how their way of life is described. What stuck out to me the most was in chapter 14, Ras-Negus Grimble is described in very physically dirty language. “Mud” in his hair, that looks like “writhing vipers.” He has a “savage appearance” and “fetid smell.” This is not a particular POV, this is just general description from Mitchener. Personally, I have never known a Rastafarian, or people with locs, to have mud in their hair and not bathe.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fiction>Historical Fiction, Caribbean
Finally finished! This one took me a while and I interrupted it with at least fifty other reads. I really enjoyed his The Source and will certainly check out more Michener but this one fell short of my expectations.
I'm not sure if I would enjoy this more if I came into it knowing more about the Caribbean or if I were after a nice story and could just enjoy it, but I was after a better understanding of the history of the area to compliment my newfound interest in cruising.
I really enjoyed the beginning... did not realize the Caribs were violent invaders taking over the area from other "native" peoples. I do really appreciate the author strives to go back as far as possible when writing about an area.
Read this is you are a fan of other Michener novels and/or epic multi generational historical fiction.

[Dyana · Rating 5 out of 5]

In order to read this book you need to set aside a lot of time. It's not a book you stay up all night to finish - almost 700 pages of small print! The chapters are more a series of vignettes where well-researched historical figures and events are seamlessly weaved together with fictional characters. Before you begin reading there is a section called Fact and Fiction with a brief explanation of what is fact and what is fiction for each chapter. This epic book spans the time period of 1300 to 1989 in the history of the Caribbean Islands. It delves into the social, political and economic history of several of the islands and the battles for colonial occupation between Spain, England, France, and Denmark.

The following is a brief synopsis of most of the chapters to help me personally remember what this huge book was about:
- 1310 - The warlike, brutal, cannibalistic Carib Indians invade the island of Dominica and begin wiping out the peaceful, family oriented Arawak people who love the joyousness of living.
- 1474-1489 - A Mayan woman named Ix Zubin on the island of Cozumel becomes the 1st woman astronomer. Her society is being infiltrated by a new religion which thrives on human sacrifices. It's the beginning of the demise of the Mayan Empire and it's greatness.
- 1509 - Because of charges brought against Christopher Columbus, the king of Spain dispatches Don Herman Ocampo to Espanola to uncover the truth about how Columbus governed and discharged his duties there in behalf of the king.
- 1567-1597 - Describes the incessant duel between the Spaniard Don Diego Ledesma and the Englishman Sir Francis Drake for the city of Cartagena in the area then known as 'The Spanish Lake'. Besides Drake, we encounter other pirates and privateers such as John Hawkins.
- 1640's - Barbados a.k.a. "Little England" - Dutch smugglers, ignoring English laws bring in needed goods and slaves from Africa for the large sugar plantations, and the rivalry between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers.
-1661-1692 - Details the buccaneer life around Tortuga including pirates like Henry Morgan who attacked Spanish ships.
1730-1763 - Details life on the sugar plantations, the battle in Parliament to defend the price of sugar (William Pitt), and the great slave rebellion on Jamaica.
- 1777-1793 - Admiral Horatio Nelson and his desperate search for a wealthy wife.
- 1794-1798 - French revolution spills into Guadeloupe. After slaves gained their freedom, Napoleon decided to re-impose slavery. Victor Hugues brings his portable guillotine to the island and becomes a dictator marked by extreme brutality, excellent statesmanship, and liberal social legislation.
- 1789-1804 - St.-Domingue - the clash between white landowners, black slaves, and the racially mixed who were despised by both the blacks and whites but who needed to choose sides. Profiles Toussaint L'Ouverture who fought for slave independence.
- 1865-66 - Martial law in Jamaica where people of a darker skin were terrorized, big debates in London on rule and slavery, murderous martial-law enforcers, Hobbs and Ramsay, and the rantings of Thomas Carlyle who was a strong believer in the British right to rule. Clash between the Catholics (Church of England) and Baptists.
- 1938 -Details the social order, caste system, and the rigid delineations of whites, blacks, light skinned browns, and dark skinned browns on the island of All Saints (fictional island). "...every human relationship is a matter of race..."
- 1970-1986 - In 1845 after slavery outlawed landowners imported Indian peasants to Trinidad to do menial jobs that blacks refused to do. The fictional character of Ranjit Banarjee is a scholar who travels to Miami for an advanced education and gets in serious trouble.
- Details the life of a Rastafarian, his confusing and mystifying religion, and it's influence on the fictional island of All Saints by using a fictional character named Ras-Negus Grimble.
-1938 - Newspaper reporter, Millard McKay travels to the fictional island of All Saints to write a series of articles comparing All Saints to Canada. While there he falls in love with the area. We also learn about the significance of cricket which is the other main religion of the Caribbean.
- 1984 - Details the Cuban revolution and life in Havana as well as life in Miami and the influence the Cuban refugees have there.
- 1989 - the story is summed up in a unique way. The book concludes on a cruise ship where advanced college students are enrolled in a seminar called 'Cruise-and-Muse' where the author brings descendants of past characters together in different ways to reflect on the past and future of the Caribbean Islands.

The main concern of some reviewers is the fictional island of All Saints Michener created. They feel he had so many real islands to choose from why would he make one up. This doesn't bother me as long as I know it's fictional. He probably made it a compilation of many small islands that he didn't get to in the book. In the back of the book Michener has included a list of books to encourage those readers who want to explore more history and information on the area. His book is the way I like to get my history - a much less boring option if you're not a history buff. A book well worth reading.