Customer Reviews

Barbados a World Apart

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Extraordinary photography, combined with intelligent, concise, even poetic text. I am English, but I have lived in Boston for many years. Barbados is perhaps my favorite island in the Caribbean--"Little England" as it is known. This book captures Barbados as I have seen no other book do ... perhaps because it focuses on the small things: flowers, the black-belly sheep, the young schoolgirl gazing deep into the camera ... The picture captions are concise, but packed with information; the author chooses and rations his words carefully! There's also, for those who want it, a complete text which conveys the history of the island. A small quibble: there's no information about hotels, restaurants, etc. However, this is not a guidebook, but rather a coffee-table "documentary" book, and in that department it is to my mind incomparable.

Having travelled to Barbados many times over the past twenty years (and I lived there for a time as well), I have to say this is the finest and most complete "coffee-table" book on the island that I have ever seen. It is large-format, filled with superb color photographs (including a number of aerial shots, as well as some archival photographs of Barbados in the mid-20th century). The text gives you a concise, intelligent overview of the island's history. I've given a number of copies to friends who love the island. The jacket blurb says the author was once a Peace Corps Volunteer, and it shows ... this is a real in-depth portrait, not just "post-cardy" superficial coverage. I have several other books on Barbados, but this one is in a class by itself.

This is an excellent text and touching text which adequately captures the essence of Barbados past present and its future in the global economy. As a Bajan I was impressed that in the choice of topics as opposed to the usual postcard presentation. Well and tastefully done.

The photography in this book is beautiful, and the text is well written. Rather than buing this before your next trip to Barbados, I'd recommend a simple travel guide instead. You may want to buy this book later for your coffee table for when you are feeling nostalgic for the warm air and white beaches.