Reading Map: Island Beneath the Sea

The Sum of Our Days : a Memoir
Isabel Allende
This soul baring memoir reconstructs Allende's painful reality in the wake of a tragic loss-the death of her daughter Paula.

My Invented Country : a Nostalgic Journey Through Chile
Isabel Allende
Explore the role of memory and nostalgia in shaping an author's life and work and an intimate connection to origins in Chile with her mythic family on Calle Cueto.

Paula: a Memoir
Isabel Allende
Written during months spent at her daughter's bedside in a hospital, Allende tells the story of her family for an unconscious daughter in a powerful autobiography.

Toussaint Louverture: a Biography
Madison Smartt Bell
A biographical portrait of Louverture who has been known as either a martyr of the 18th century revolution freeing Saint Domingue from France or as the instigator of one of Haiti's most savagely violent events.

A Traveller's History of the Caribbean
James Ferguson
Traces the path from slavery and revolution to independence examining the histories of countries as different as Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti explaining the diversity and common experiences following a turbulent legacy of colonialism.

A Brief History of the Caribbean
D.H. Figueredo and Frank Argote-Freye
Covers events shaping the islands of the Caribbean Sea beginning with an account of the indigenous populations before 1492 and ending with major political and social developments taking place as recent as 2007.

A Continent Of Islands : Searching For The Caribbean Destiny
Mark Kurlansky
Portrays the individual countries and peoples of the Caribbean often kept from foreigners and tourists-the arts, history, politics, and economics of the region-and the vivid day to day lives of its citizens.

A Brief History of the Caribbean : from the Arawak and the Carib to the Present
Jan Rogozinski
Provides fascinating narrative history from the first known islanders, the Arawak and the warlike Carib, through the domination of the Spanish, Dutch, French and British vying for sovereignty through the end of the 20th century with 90 percent of the population independent.