Essay
The Story of the Bahamas
Paul Albury · 1975
Synopsis
A history of the Bahamas in twenty-six chapters, from the “islands of the shallow sea” and their first inhabitants, the Lucayans, to political parties and independence. The author follows the discovery, the proprietors, the privateers and pirates, Governor Woodes Rogers, the arrival of the American loyalists, the end of slavery, the wrecking industry, blockade running and liquor smuggling, then the Second World War and tourism, before surveying the archipelago island by island.
Context
The book was published in London in 1975 by Macmillan Caribbean: 294 pages, plates, a bibliography and an index. It also deals with the archipelago's successive industries: salt, sponges, cotton and sisal. Gail Saunders, a historian of the Bahamian Loyalists, cites it as early as 1983. Its readers praise a well-documented introduction, while criticising a somewhat stiff style and a survey rather than a comprehensive work.
Who it is for
A general history in English, chronological and accessible, with a bibliography for further reading.
Prizes and reception
One reader notes that it seems to have been written by an amateur of history rather than by a historian; all praise its bibliography.
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