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Carregando... Empire's Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the… (edição: 2015)de Carrie Gibson (Autor)
Detalhes da ObraEmpire's Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day de Carrie Gibson
   Books Read in 2020 (1,741) Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. An excellent idea, and a history that more people should know about, but the execution is a bit lacking. Gibson is a little scattered with her history, and there's no real cohesive story here, just names and dates. Not /bad/, just could have been better. (  ) L_Will | May 14, 2018 |  An interesting read on an area of the world whose history I know very little about. As with books covering vast amounts of time and geography, at times it was a little dry, because of this it took me quite a time to finish it and I read other books in between. Definitely a good starting point for anyone who wants a little more background on the region. The book is also thought provoking in a number of ways, from historical exploitation of slaves and resources right up to the difficult modern day relationship with tourism. Don't expect a thrill ride, but do expect to be educated. (  ) fothpaul | Jan 12, 2016 | Educational but not very entertaining. ( ) MaidMeri | Nov 26, 2015 | The title to this history might be more accurately styled "Empires' Crossroads". There were many powers involved with exploitation in the Caribbean. This is a good running history of the area beginning with Columbus' four voyages. History is so often a litany of horrors. The dispiriting story of violence and greed never lets up. It starts with the tobacco/sugar drug demand in Europe, supported by the purchase of hundreds of thousands of slaves in Africa. It continues today with IMF loans, the cruise and tourist industry, and the destruction of local food production. What spoils the book is the woeful editing. There is an acknowledgement that an editor had a hand in the book's production, but the number of clumsy sentences that plague the book is irritating. It spoils the whole enterprise. ivanfranko | Jun 27, 2015 | Poor, because the author, who should know better, does not mention that of the slaves from Africa, almost 4 million went to the British West Indies, which today has a population of perhaps 4 million, and 400,000 went to America, which has a population of almost 40 million. She writes dull academese and gives the Brits a total pass on the fact that they preferred to starve their slaves rather than feed them, because it was cheaper. That is why the sugar islands were such horrible places and why the economy of the area collapsed when slavery was outlawed. In the US slavery was an abomination, but being sold 'down the river' meant that you were going to a sugar plantation in Louisiana, and you weren't going to live long. Despite their brutal treatment of slaves, the US bred and exported them, mostly from Virginia, and this led to the great population increase. This author is a disgrace, but one doesn't expect much from British academics. (  )2  annbury | Feb 22, 2015 | sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
Traces the story of the coveted area from the northern rim of South America up to Cuba, exploring its history from the arrival of Columbus through colonialism to the present, offering a panoramic view of this complex region.
In October 1492, an Italian-born, Spanish-funded navigator discovered a new world, thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean. In Empire's Crossroads, Carrie Gibson, unfolds the story of the Caribbean, from Columbus's first landing on the island he named San Salvador to today's islands-- largely independent, but often still in thrall to Europe and America's insatiable desire for tropical luxuries. From the early years of settlement to the age of sugar and slavery, during which vast riches were generated for Europeans through the enforced labour of millions of enslaved Africans, to the great slave rebellions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the long, slow progress towards independence in the modern era, Gibson offers a vivid, panoramic view of this complex and contradictory region. From Cuba to Haiti, from Jamaica to Trinidad, the story of the Caribbean is not simply the story of slaves and masters, but of fortune-seekers, tourists, scientists and pirates. It is not only a story of imperial expansion-- European and American-- but also of life as it is lived in the islands, both in the past and today. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
 Google Books — Carregando...Capas popularesAvaliaçãoMédia: (2.94)
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