A history of the Dominican Republic from pre-Columbian times to the present. The book focuses on the merger of three cultures across time - the indiginous cultures of the Caribbean, the Iberians of southern Europe and the Africans.

1. Introducing Quisqueya 2. The People of the Dominican Republic 3. The Indigenous Heritage 4. The Spanish Heritage 5. Voices of Opposition 6. The Renegades: Marginal People 7. Los Cimarrones: Another Transfrontier Culture 8. The Africans: An Early Presence 9. Azucar: The Advent and Decline of Sugar 10. Hispaniola's Slave-Labor Plantation Economy 11. Hispaniola's Century of Misery 12. Hispaniola's Demographic Expansion: Interior Colonization 13. The Neighbor to the West: Saint-Domingue 14. The Haitian Revolution and the Neighbor to the East 15. The After-Shock: Consequences of the Haitian Revolution 16. French, then Haitian, Domination of Santo Domingo 17. A Haitian President in Santo Domingo18. After Independence, More War 19. After Restoration, More Chaos 20. Invasion from the Northern Colossus 21. The Era of Trujillo: 1930-1961 22. Living in the Shadow of Trujillo 23. Conclusions: Dreaming Jointly in Defining Dominican Culture