This handbook on Haiti, published in the Hoover Institution series on politics in Latin America, is a useful addition to the literature on a somewhat neglected country. The historical sections of the book are, however, rather weak and contain a number of inaccuracies; the authors are best when discussing the present political and economic situation of the republic. Their analysis of the Duvalier regime is generally balanced and suggestive. They correctly draw attention to the vital role played by patronage, which they call “government by franchise.”
With respect to the role of the United States in maintaining the present regime in power, the authors are ambivalent. On the one hand, they boldly assert that “U.S. influence does not keep the Duvalier family in power” (p. 117) while, on the other, they appear to accept the views of Leslie Manigat and Georges Anglade that the present Haitian government needs foreign aid to protect itself (p. 122). Jean-Claude Duvalier is indeed much more dependent upon foreign aid than was his father. The principal reason for this is not explained in the book. The shift in the basis of support for the regime from the Black rural and urban middle classes to the mulatto elite (which the authors refer to) is the principal cause for this increasing dependence. The elite, being accustomed to a style of living that is based on imported luxuries, is much less willing to put up with the kind of economic stringency that the middle classes tolerated under François Duvalier. The authors’ discussion of the effects of foreign aid, however, is generally perceptive, though I doubt whether it is the case that better roads are likely to break the hold of richer peasants over the poor; it is normally the rich who benefit the most from such improvements.
The principal weakness of the book is undoubtedly in the cultural sphere. The book’s title speaks of “cultural successes,” but very little space is devoted to cultural matters. Nothing is said about the great literary movements of the nineteenth century; the historians—Ardouin, Madiou, Saint Rémy, and others—are not mentioned, nor are social theorists like Anténor Firmin. The literary revival of the occupation period is barely referred to; Carl Brouard, Emile Roumer are neglected, and the reader would get no true impression of the cultural significance of Jacques Roumain. Nothing is said of the musical tradition, of Haitian dance and popular folk songs. None of the Haitian painters of the “primitive” school is discussed.
The book is marred by a fair number of typographical errors, and there is confusion in the notes (chap. 3, notes 54-60).
