Island People
The Caribbean and the World
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
“Islands are potent places, and for five hundred years this exemplary sea of islands in the imagination has proved irresistible to adventurers and poets and protestors and hedonists alike”
Available as Paperback, Hardback, eBook
A highly topical and accessible exploration of the Caribbean Islands, their history and peoples
Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards
In this fascinating travelogue, the product of almost a decade of travel and intense study, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro strips away the fantasy and myth to expose the real islands, and the real people, that make up the Caribbean.
“A heartfelt Caribbean journey … through the places, literature and music of the region to beautifully illuminate the histories of people and continents … Terrific”
observer
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“Delves into the brutal history and unique allure of the Caribbean … Island People, written by a careful and compassionate author, is a worthy travel and history book, a fresh study”
guardian
“A travelogue of love and scholarship … does the region splendid justice”
new York Times
“A pleasingly broad study of the Caribbean and its vital, indecipherable blend of peoples”
financial Times
“Allows the Caribbean to stand on its own and shine … A celebration of culture, music and literature … shows the magic of the people of the Caribbean … infused with passion, love and vibrancy”
Sharmaine Lovegrove
monocle Arts Review
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro is a geographer and writer whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, New Yorker, Harper’s, the Believer, Artforum, and the Nation, among many other publications. Educated at Yale and Berkeley, he is the co-editor, with Rebecca Solnit, of Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas, and a visiting scholar at New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge. This is his first book.
“Island People powerfully shows how places shape people, and how people shape places.”
Anita Sethi
Guardian
Watch Josh Jelly-Schapiro introduce Island People from Cuba