Little England: Plantation Society and Anglo-Barbadian Politics, 1627-1700.
1984 · New York
by Puckrein, Gary A.
New York: New York University Press, 1984. Octavo, black cloth (hardcover), gilt letters, xxiv, 235 pp. Fine; in a Very Good+ dust jacket with light edgewear. From dust jacket: The development of slavery and the growth of the sugar economy in seventeenth-century Barbados are traced and interpreted in this illuminating soical history of the island which was to become England’s chief and most important Caribbean colony. Starting his account in England, and drawing extensively on archives in Barbados, Britain, and America, Gary A. Puckrein demonstrates how the plantocracy grew on the island. He challenges previous interpretations which have asserted that England had no political or imperialistic motives in Barbados. He builds his case by offering a portrayal of the Barbadian Afro-Anglo culture that developed on the island in a distinctive societal sythesis. Examining household patterns, Puckrein goes into their impact on creolization. Taking the social analysis further, he demonstrates that the society and its governming institution -- the plantation -- were, in fact, completely oriented toward the creation of a profitable sugar economy. With the plantation playing so central a role, no other institution could interfere in any way with the development of slavery. Finally, the author shows how the plantocracy, in order to survive in a competitive and often hostile enviornment, was obliged to look to England for protection: total submission to the will of the mother country. The wealth of materials provided, along with the new data gathered on the demographic patterns in colonial Barbados, all gathered into Gary Puckrein’s analytical framework, make this a signficant contribution to Caribbean, Afro-American, colonial American, and English hsitory. The book is also an exciting addition to the literature on slavery in the new world and the comparitive study of imperailistic colonialism. in addition, it is exceptionally informative as an anthropological study for students of comparative culture. (Inventory #: 2892gls)