Book review: ‘Island People’ brings Caribbean’s humanity, color to life – Fredericksburg.com

Until this point, my experience of the Caribbean islands has been limited to notions of beautiful beaches and a vague awareness of the pitfalls surrounding Caribbean tourism. In his highly ambitious new book, Island People: The Caribbean and the World, however, author Joshua JellySchapiro attempts the seemingly herculean task of giving all these typically marginalized islands more depth and substance.

Though this work is perhaps most accurately called a travelogue, JellySchapiro also provides a historical account of the islands, which ranges from Christopher Columbus initial discovery to contemporary problems and politics. Island People is also, at times, a sociological account, as the author explores ideas such as the impact of tourism on the native populations and race relations.

Most strikingly, however, JellySchapiro promotes the idea that the Caribbean islands, far from being small players on the world stage, contribute much to both popular culture and academic study. This reader finds the author to be as comfortable discussing Afro-Caribbean identity as he is Bob Marleys impact on music.

Given the varied tasks of this book, JellySchapiro performs an amazing balancing act. Though it is true that each of the islands are not given equal space and depth, JellySchapiro still manages to leave the reader with a strong sense of each islands culture.

Some readers may find, however, that this work is occasionally too theoretical, and reading Island People is less a pleasure than an intellectual exercise. Despite this drawback, JellySchapiros distinctive prose style sets him apart. Although this work is nonfiction, JellySchapiro brings the people and places he encounters over the course of this expansive book to life, and the book, in these moments, reads more like a novel than an academic text. Moreover, although JellySchapiros love of the islands is clear from his introduction, he does not shy away from exposing the darker aspects of the islands cultures, governments and politics, and the picture of the Caribbean that develops over the course of the text has remarkable depth.

The goal of this work appears to be to alter the seemingly omnipresent view that the Caribbean is only the sum of its tourism industries, and in this JellySchapiro is astonishingly successful. The Caribbean, as it is presented here, becomes a place of astounding humanity and color.

Ashley Riggleson

is a freelance reviewer from Rappahannock County.

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Book review: 'Island People' brings Caribbean's humanity, color to life - Fredericksburg.com