Empire's Crossroads

Carrie Gibson completed her doctorate, on the Spanish Caribbean, at the University of Cambridge. She has worked as a journalist for the Guardian and spent many months living in the Caribbean researching in the archives of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republican. She lives in London and Washington D.C. This is her first book.

Vivid and thought-provoking Spectator Carrie Gibson manages to weave 500 years of complex history into a brilliant narrative ... [A] strikingly assured debut. Observer Carrie Gibson has written a compelling history of the Caribbean, rightly placing it at the heart of European imperialism. This is a gripping account by a gifted scholar and story-teller -- Tristram Hunt A fine introduction to the history of a turbulent and fascinating region The Times Carrie Gibson has written a judicious, readable and extremely well-informed account of a part of the world whose history is seldom acknowledged. Too many people know the Caribbean only as a tourist destination; she takes us, instead, into its fascinating, complex and often tragic past. No vacation there will ever feel quite the same again. -- Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost Sharp, gripping ... packed with the stories of tyrants and insurgents, and images of violence and beauty ... A great read about some fantastically absorbing - and to many people, little-known - history ... An exceptionally impressive debut. -- Alex von Tunzelman Literary Review