This work is an account that finds in Haiti's traumatic history the sources of its devastating present. Even before last year's earthquake destroyed much of the country, Haiti was known as a benighted place of poverty and corruption. Maligned and misunderstood, the nation has long been blamed by many for its own wretchedness. But as the author, a historian, demonstrates, Haiti's troubles owe more to a legacy of international punishment for the original...

Renowned author Elizabeth Abbott, who lived and wrote in Haiti, begins with the notorious Duvaliers-father and son-and explores their legacy to the present day. In 1803, the enslaved people of Haiti vanquished their French masters after a bloody war which left tens of thousands dead. Since then, the Haitian people have endured more than one corrupt regime that drove millions into exile, cowed those who remained, and tortured hundreds of thousands....

"A biography of the Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture."--

Describes how an African slave, Toussaint L'Ouverture, lead his fellow slaves of the island of St. Domingue (now Haiti) to revolt against the white plantation owners to gain their freedom and influence the course of world history.

"This is not a book about crisis in Haiti. This is a book about what it feels like to live, and sometimes to die, with crisis. It is about the experience of living with a crisis that seems to never end, to only turn into more crises, more disasters, more emergencies, and more interventions. How Crisis Feels also explores the power of stories to help us make sense of the world and to understand the experience of others. Greg Beckett draws on over a...