Omens of Adversity: Tragedy, Time, Memory, Justice

This is indeed a highly theoretical book, as one reviewer complained and as one might gather from the subtitle. It is not a straightforward history of the revolution in Grenada. But if you are interested in thinking about how we experience time, how history is remembered and plotted, or the importance of genres of narrative for shaping our understandings of the past, then this sometimes difficult but always insightful book is a revelation.

The fall of the Grenadian Revolution in 1983 is a turning point in modern Caribbean history. Since the tragic October of that year, the Left and its vision of a non-neoliberal future have practically vanished from the scene. In covering this topic, however, the author engages in so much academic posturing that this book is truly one for the Ivory Tower. The interesting bits are drowned out by reams of useless postmodern theorizing. Those who need to learn the lessons of Grenada--young Caribbean women and men hoping to transform their countries-- will have no access to them here. Explaining these events and their legacies in a clear and straight-forward manner, I believe, would have been much more work. If you're interested in the Grenadian tragedy and its memory, please see Bruce Paddington's excellent film, "Forward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution."