This book introduces the scholarly work of a number of new researchers working on the history and culture of the Caribbean. The eleven essays in this book cover topical themes and issues relating to those two subject areas, and specifically address the topics of colonialism, slavery, the Christianizing and moralizing missions, education, art history, and musical culture in the form of Reggae and its interactions with politics.

Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Introduction Part 3 Part I: History Chapter 4 Chapter 1. Underground History: The Persistent, Un-heroic Past Chapter 5 Chapter 2. Slave Instruction by the Anglican Church and the Transformation of Slavery Chapter 6 Chapter 3. Education for the Future: Shaking off the Shackles of Colonial Times Chapter 7 Chapter 4. The Life of Rev. George Wilson Bridges: The Jamaican Experience Chapter 8 Chapter 5. "Faithful Delineations": Rev. George Wilson Bridges and Photography Chapter 9 Chapter 6. Vectors of Venereal Diseases: The Perceived Threat of Prostitutes to Military Efficiency in Jamaica during World Wars I and II Part 10 Part II: Culture Chapter 11 Chapter 7. The Manioc and the Made-in-France: Reconsidering Creolization and Commodity Fetishism in Caribbean Literature and Theory Chapter 12 Chapter 8. West Indian Plays and Caribbean Masculinity: An Assessment of Black Jacobins, Ti Jean and his Brothers, Pantomime, and Moon on a Rainbow Shawl Chapter 13 Chapter 9. A "Coolitudian" Caribbean Text: The Trajectory of Renewal in David Dabydeen's Our Lady of Demerara Chapter 14 Chapter 10. Beyond the National: Cross-Culturalism in the Art of the Jamaican Painter Karl Parboosingh Chapter 15 Chapter 11. Reggae as a Rastafari Poetic of Disenchantment