General History of the Caribbean Volume IV: The Long Nineteenth Century: Nineteenth Century Transformations

UNESCO's lengthy, multi-volume General History of the Caribbean series is more than useful for those studying Caribbean history. Combining the best scholarship from historians from the region and the North, the fourth volume adequately covers every significant development in the 19th century Caribbean. Slavery, emancipation, the Haitian Revolution, nationalism, Antillean federationism, the rising influence of the US, indentured labour, and economic changes are covered in this important volume. Given my own personal interests in Haiti, I decided to start reading the series with this volume, and Haiti is certainly included with an entire chapter on the Haitian Revolution from a top scholar (David Geggus). Michel Hector, Jean Casimir, and others also contribute in later chapters on Haitian social structure, economic turmoil, and US economic and political influence. 

Unfortunately, there were a few chapters that may have been better off with additional editing, such as one erroneous assertion that caco resistance to US Occupation in Haiti had over 4 million supporters! That would have been more than the entire population of Haiti at the time, so I assume the author of that chapter made a typo that was not corrected. There also could have been more coverage of religious diversity and Afro-Creole traditions, as well as a superior chapter on Caribbean intellectual history when pertaining to Haiti.

Nonetheless, everything else about the text was an excellent introduction to the important historical developments. As someone who, again, is mostly interested in Haiti, understanding the demographic impact of Portuguese, African, and indentured labor in that era is all relatively new material. Moreover, Central America and Belize are included, areas of the circum-Caribbean world I am woefully ignorant of in the annals of Caribbean history. In addition, the text also includes numerous excellent historical photographs and tables, as well as a valuable bibliography for additional sources.