Eric Williams and the Making of the Modern Caribbean [Hardcover]

Colin A. Palmer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807829870 | ISBN-13: 978-0807829875 | Publication Date: January 25, 2006

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

"A highly successful addition to our knowledge of a major figure."
— Hispanic American Historical Review

"An informative and useful account that greatly enhances our understanding of a man of tremendous political and intellectual acuity."
— American Historical Review

"A fascinating study of one of the most brilliant and controversial figures of the twentieth century Caribbean. . . . A magnificent testimony to the sheer force of that singular personality, and the extent of his impact on politics in the modern Caribbean. Williams' continued capacity to impose himself on history is not in doubt."
— Journal of Latin American Studies

From the Inside Flap

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (January 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807829870
• ISBN-13: 978-0807829875
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,771,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > History > Americas > Caribbean & West Indies > Trinidad and Tobago

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Eric Eustace Williams: The Politician revealed, April 5, 2007

By 

Philip G. Rochford (Trinidad and Tobago) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eric Williams and the Making of the Modern Caribbean (Hardcover)

The book is well written. It is balanced, and gives an insight into the deep love and commitment Dr. Eric Williams had for the people of the Caribbean, and especially citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. The book discloses in authentic detail, the struggle to reclaim Chaguramas from the United States of America, who had got if from the British in the second world war, ostensibly for defence of North America, South America, and the Caribbean. It is a treasure of history, showing the struggle of a former British colony reaching for its political and economic independence. The book is also well worth reading from a literary point of view.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Fish in a Small Pond, March 30, 2006

By 

Curious Senior (Fort Myers, FL USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Eric Williams and the Making of the Modern Caribbean (Hardcover)

Eric Williams was a complex and controversial giant who led a small Caribbean nation into independence. Professor Palmer attempts to understand him and his influence on the modern Caribbean by dissecting some of the major issues with which he dealt in the course of constructing his government. The result is a fascinating, well-researched study which should interest students of the Caribbean but also those interested in the problems of governance of small countries generally. He ends his book in 1970, though Williams continued as Prime Minister until his death in 1981; the years of plenty when high oil prices funded an economic boom are not covered, and would also make fascinating reading. However, while there is much more to say about Williams' tenure, what Palmer does cover can be taken on its own merits.

Just one quibble: the author's arithmetic in the paragraph beginning at the bottom of page 228 doesn't add up, making his conclusions unintelligible; I trust this is the result of typographical error??

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed and insighful, June 1, 2009

By 

Konstantin "Comrade Kosta" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eric Williams and the Making of the Modern Caribbean (Hardcover)

Well of cause you must like the TT or major in the Caribbean history (or just be a very curious person).But it is a great book. I decided to find our more about Dr Williams after a friend told me that Dr Williams would never take his dark shades off in public, pointing at a picture in La Piarra airport. You definitely get a better understanding of how it was, and why it is the way it is, and other questions you may have about the TT. You go beyond what's on surface and get into true psychology of Triny life. Kudos to Colin A. Palmer, and as someone else has noticed already, I wish the book went beyond 1970.