Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean, and: The Dominican People: A Documentary History (review)

Amid the growing number of resources for the study of the Caribbean, these two recent volumes stand apart from the rest for their unique contributions and their scopes. Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean is an ambitious project with essays examining the region from the distinctive perspectives of various disciplines. On the other hand, The Dominican People provides instructors and students with a collection of primary sources set and arranged in a convenient format for the classroom. Together they combine a broad multi-disciplinary approach with a more concentrated analysis of sources.

Ernesto Sagas and Orland Inoa's work follows in the path of a similar book, Olga Wagenheim and Kal Wagenheim's widely successful, The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History (1973; 2002). Sagas and Inoa, however, improve on the format with a broader selection of sources and a sharper analysis, albeit sometimes rough. An instructor in Caribbean history will appreciate its forte immediately because of the scarcity of primary documents in any language on the Dominican Republic, here available in a compact and convenient package. No serious study of the Caribbean could do without attention to the colonial sources found in this book. The most difficult task of such a project is actually the most valuable contribution, namely the editing and translation of the sources into English. A class centered on the analysis of primary sources is usually more enriching and enjoyable than a course faithfully following the cycles of a textbook. Such a course engages history directly and helps develop in students the critical skills to analyze historical evidence. Yet, this book's weak points are like those of many other attempts at putting primary sources together for classroom use. They either prove insufficiently interesting to grab the students' (and sometimes the professor's) attention, or fail to reveal in a compelling way the larger connections of the sources to broader themes.

Hillman and D'Agostino prove once more their ability to pull together a brilliant team of scholars to produce a sweeping book. This set of articles pursues a format comparable to Hillman's previous work, Understanding Contemporary Latin America (1996; 2001) and considers the view from several disciplines committed to "understanding" the region of study. The strength of this method, and of the book, is its across-the-board analysis, which allows for students to grasp a general view of the region. It also introduces students to the different disciplinary approaches and style of writings. Yet as with most readers, its main weakness is the uneven quality of the articles. In its history chapter, for example, the twentieth century appears prominently at the expense of the colonial period, which leaves a vacuum in comprehension that can only be bridged with extra reading. On the other hand, the chapter on geography is well written and offers students the latest discussions in Caribbean geography. It also proposes a clever framework that encompasses an extensive Caribbean territory subdivided into various parts. Considering the benefits and obstacles of such a book, I recommend choosing the sections according to classroom goals.