Book Review: Latin America and Caribbean, History of the People of Trinidad and Tobago
| Author | Selwyn Ryan |
| Date | 01 June 1965 |
| Published date | 01 June 1965 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000235 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK REVIEWS
283
in
the
assessment,
perhaps,
is
that
"cultural
mutation"
implies
much
more
than
the
adaptation
of
American
or
other
Western
democratic
institutions to
local
conditions.
It
requires the
imaginative
creation
of
new
structures
and
institutions
which
will
realize
not
the
familiar
mani-
festations
of
democracy,
but
its
essence,
namely, humanism,
in unique
and
unprecedented
forms.
And
whether
Latin
American Catholicism
possesses
this
order
of
creativity remains
to
date
a
highly
problematic
question.
St.
Michael's
College,
University
of
Toronto
LEsLIE
DEWART
HISTORY
OF
THE
PEOPLE
OF
TRINIDAD
AND
TOBAGO.
By
Eric
Williams.
1964.
(New
York:
Frederick
A.
Praeger.
Toronto:
Win.
Collins. x,
292pp.
$7.00)
Trinidad
and
Tobago
became
an
independent
nation
state
on August
31st,
1962.
But,
in
the
words
of
Dr.
Eric
Williams,
its Prime
Minister,
if
a
nation has
been
freed,
a
society
has
not
yet
been
formed.
Dr.
Williams
takes
the
view
that
it
would
be
impossible
for
a
people
to
develop a sense of
mature
nationhood if
they
knew
nothing
of
their
historical
development. Thus
the
decision
to
take
leave
of
onerous
affairs
of
state
to
write this
book.
According
to
the author, the writing
was
completed
in
one
month-from
July
25
to
August
25-and
was
readied
by
his
party
press
in
time
for
independence,
one
week
later.
It
was
an
impressive performance, though
Dr.
Williams
acknowledged
that
it
was
made
possible
by
the
fact
that
he
had
the
advantage
of
an
unfinished
history
of
the
West Indies,
begun eleven
years
ago.
It
would
have
been
surprising
if
the
finished
product,
especially
the
later
sections,
did
not
bear
evidence of
haste.
But
if
it
is
unfair
to
criticize
the
first
edition
of
this
book
on
ground
of
poor
form,
lack
of
proper
documentation,
or
the
bias
involved
in
its
schlarship-Dr.
Wil-
liams
explicitly declares
that,
"this
book
is
not
conceived
as
a
work
of
scholarship"-it
is
difficult
to
understand
why
the
author
agreed
to
have
the
book
reprinted
without
first attempting
to
remedy
some
of
the
very
glaring
defects
of
the
text.
For
the
book is
by
no
means
a
complete
history
of
the
people
of
Trinidad and
Tobago. One
would
indeed
obtain quite
an
incomplete
and
somewhat distorted
view of
Trinidad's
history
if
one
were
to rely
exclu-
sively
on
this
study.
In
the
first
place,
large
and
important
periods
are
omitted
altogether.
Whereas
the
period before
1921
is
given
214
pages,
the
crucial
period
between
1921
and
1956
is
dismissed
in
a
paltry
25
pages,
and
the
critical
years
between
1950
to
1956
are
not
discussed
at
all.
It
appears
that
Dr.
Williams
was
not
sure
what
verdict to
pass
on
the
period
after
having muckraked
it
so
severely
during
his
rise
to
power.
It
is
tempting
to
speculate
that
Dr.
Williams
is
not
now
so
certain
that
the
"Old
World"
was
as
worthy
of
total
damnation
as
he
believed
in
1955.
That
at
least
is
the
opinion
held
by
this
reviewer
who
is
himself
preparing
a
study
aimed
partly
at
revising
some
of
the
unfortunate
biases
of
Williams'
interpretation
of
Trinidad's
historical
development.
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