New book I am reading

I just got a new book from the library that has been very interesting so far in light of my upcoming trip. Written by Phillipe Girard, Haiti: The Tumultuous History - From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation, just came out last month so it is an overview of the history and culture of Haiti including the recent earthquake. I read through the introduction last night and was encouraged. It seems that Girard, while pulling no punches, is also not going to lay all of the blame for Haiti’s woes on Western colonialism. As he points out in the intro, there are lots of countries that have similar backgrounds and have experienced similar struggles but are in far better shape. It is interesting and instructive to see how far Haiti has fallen. Girard points out that at one time the United States saw Haiti as an economic and military threat!

Haiti was clearly a tragic situation long before the earthquake. I am hoping that Haiti: The Tumultuous History - From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation will help me to understand the underlying situation in Haiti. It is important to simply be willing to go to Haiti and other places where the physical and spiritual needs are so immense but the long term goal should be to see Haiti more self-sufficient. To understand how that can happen, you need to understand how they have arrived at this point. I will have a review once I complete the book which shouldn’t take long.