The first comprehensive study of the close ties between the American
South and the Caribbean, with essays and commentaries by Roger D.
Abrahams, Kenneth Bilby, David Eltis, Stanley L. Engerman, Aline Helg,
Milton Jamail, Charles Joyner, Daniel C. Littlefield, Bonham C.
Richardson, and Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr.
With the trade of sugar, rum, and African slaves in the islands that
form a perimeter around the Gulf of Mexico, the broad expanse of water
known as the Caribbean ringed what came to be known as the South.
Today concise political boundaries separate the coasts of the American
South from the multicultural worlds that dominate the islands. Yet all
anecdotal evidence suggests far greater ties. One listens to the reggae
in the streets of New Orleans or to the rumba in Atlanta. One notes the
moans of the blues in the cafes of Veracruz and watches Major League
games in which young Dominican athletes hurling lightning-fast balls
become national heroes on their island homeland bes