Haiti: The Tumultuous History - From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation [Paperback]

This book was a surprisingly enjoyable and easy read given the weightiness of the topic. The style was very fluid and the descriptive narratives helped me imagine the setting and historical characters. Most importantly, the author tackled the difficult issue of poverty, underdevelopment and historical legacies with a great deal of insight and fairness. The book really made me rethink my opinions of foreign aid to Haiti (outside the aid sent for the earthquake).

What surprised me was that the author has a rather empowering message: Haitians are smart, capable and resilient people and would benefit more from a stable political environment, economic outlets for their talents and a healthy environment than from foreign aid money that never changes the big issues. Yes, the colonial legacy set Haiti on the wrong track, but that does not predestine Haiti to a dim future. Rather, as the book argues, we need to stop assuming Haiti isn't capable of stability and prosperity and need to support real, sustainable change. What's more, as history has often shown, such change needs to come from within in order to make it real. I love that this book actually offers a final chapter with a "development plan".

For me, this is good history with a practical, meaningful contemporary application (learning from the past to improve the future). I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Haiti, foreign aid or underdevelopment.

In spite of the proximity of Haiti to the U.S., very few Americans know much about this small island nation beyond the regular tragedies that show up on our news and that they practice voodoo. Philippe Girard's new book, Haiti: The Tumultuous History - From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation, is a great introduction to the fascinating, colorful and all too often tragic history of Haiti that spans her history from the early days of European exploration all the way to the 2010 earthquake. I am going to Haiti in January of 2011 and was looking for an introduction to her history and I found a goldmine with Girard's compact but thorough book.

What I especially liked is that Philippe Girard refuses to get into the blame game with Haiti's woes. It is true that Haiti was exploited in its early history but so were many other nations and they are not in nearly the same shape as Haiti. According to Girard, Haiti's woes can be placed squarely on centuries of corrupt leaders who have seized power in this island nation and used their nation as their own personal piggy bank. The end results is a giant welfare state that depends on foreign aid to function. Girard doesn't sugarcoat the racism of America and the horror of the slave trade but neither does he allow these events to be an excuse for Haiti's deplorable conditions.

What was most interesting was Girard's conclusion. He asks the obvious question being asked by his primarily American audience: what should the U.S. do to help Haiti? His answer was surprising but dead on: as little as possible. Haiti needs to come into the world economy on its own. Free food helps feed people but it destroys Haiti's agricultural sector. What Haiti has in abundance and the world has a need for is a cheap workforce that can do labor intensive light assembly. Are those jobs glamorous? Nope but in a country with something like 70% unemployment, these jobs are not exploitative they are gateways to a better future. Haiti is not going to go from welfare state to booming economy overnight and it is a century behind much of the rest of the world. All Haiti has going for it right now is a large, cheap workforce and natural beauty. To tap the one (the natural beauty) is going to require a stable country which requires stable employment (cheap workforce). Tourists are not ging to visit Haiti and spend their vacation money in a country that is unstable and the only way for Haiti to achieve last stability is to become economically independent.

Not everyone is going to agree with Girard but I think he makes a compelling case for how Haiti got where it is and the only real hope for Haiti in the future. Haiti: The Tumultuous History - From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation is a great introduction to our neighbor to the south that only seems to be in the news when the latest tragedy strikes. I think that the suggestions Girard makes could lead to Haiti someday being a tourism destination and a thriving economic partner instead of a nation broken by mismanagement.

Mr. Girard does present Haiti's history in a multifaceted way. I do like the fact that he does not diminish the condition of Haiti and try to explain it in simple terms, as if the situation in Haiti was so juvenile and simplistic. It's not. what I disagreed with was Mr. Girard's clinical approach to Haitian history. Yes, he does present both sides of the argument but often times than not I believe that he ignores the psychological aspect of colonialism and it's reverberation on the human psyche.

Haiti was born in blood and violence plagued by people in power who tried to bring order to the nation only to replicate many of the injustices conceived by the French. Look at any oppressed people, when they come to power, due to the psychological damage, many impose the same conditions onto other as were imposed on them, i.e. Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, newly freed slaves that enslaved the native population of what was to become Liberia, Eastern Europeans looking down on other Eastern Europeans, etc.

What bothered me the most was how Mr. Girard starts the book with an assertive statement that Haitians are responsible for their own destiny. While that may be true and he DOES present the many obstacles that were put in front of Haiti (imperialism, colonialism, corruption and unfair trade agreements) he doesn't bring them into account in his OWN interpretation of the history and how these external factors contributed to the country's progress or lack-there-of. It's a good read but cold, removed and detached. Don't rely solely on THIS volume for ALL of your information on Haiti. It's important to read Farmer's books as well as Amy Wilentz (I'm not sure of any Haitian historians as of now that I may recommend but I would love to see their perspective) as well as Edwidge Danticatt's writing (fiction but it will give you an emotional connection to Haiti).

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