“Haiti, it is said, is the place to discover how much can be done with little.”
Occupying three-eighths of the island it shares with the Dominican Republic and home to over 11.4 million people, Haiti is the third largest and most populous country in the Caribbean. Since 2018, the country has endured a succession of crises, with gangs seizing control of the streets, assassinating politicians, and causing the displacement, injury, or death of hundreds of thousands of people, alongside incidents of breaking into prisons.
One of the most pressing hotspots in geopolitics right now, the Haitian Crisis can trace its immediate roots to the corruption of President Jovenel Moise’s administration. However, colonialism, marginalization, recognition, revisionism, and systemic oppression deeply underlie the troubles that the country and its people endure today. To help make sense of things and gain a better understanding of the country in 2024, join us at What We Reading for the best books on Haiti, exploring its past and the contributing factors behind its present crisis.
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture And The San Domingo Revolution – C.L.R. James
To best understand Haiti in 2024, it’s important to grasp its modern history, the formation of its identity, and how these elements continue to influence its present-day state. First published back in 1938, C.L.R. James’ The Black Jacobins is cited as the definitive account of the Haitian Revolution, the independence of the country from colonial rule and the enduring legacy of its leader, Toussaint Louverture.
Powerful, sweeping and impassioned, the Trinidadian chronicles the uprising from the wake of the storming of the Bastille in France to how it inspired liberation movements from Africa to Cuba. Still one of the best books about Haiti, The Black Jacobins lifts the lid on the cruelty and injustices of plantations, exploring racial dynamics, colonialism, slavery, inequality and marginalisation – all of which remain firmly relevant today.
SHEROES Of The Haitian Revolution – Bayyinah Bello
Another one of the best books on the Haitian Revolution, SHEROES Of the Haitian Revolution is a 2020 book written by humanitarian worker and professor Bayyinah Bello. Like The Black Jacobins, Bello lifts the lid on the Haitian Revolution, exploring the uprising through a gender-transformative lens. She focuses the spotlight on the women who were instrumental in securing the island’s independence.
Throughout the book, readers meet the brave mothers, daughters, and sisters who sacrificed their lives to end the practice of slavery and colonial oppression. With illustrations provided by Kervin Andre presented alongside these stories, SHEROES stands as one of the most powerful and eye-opening books on Haiti suitable for any reader.
Silencing The Past: Power And The Production Of History – Michel-Rolph Trouillot
Michel-Rolph Trouillot was a Haitian academic, professor of Anthropology and Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, and a Frantz Fanon Lifetime Achievement Award winner, a renowned prize dedicated to pioneers of Caribbean thought. His 1995 book, Silencing the Past is a compelling exploration of how power operates in documenting and reshaping our understanding of history.
Having fled the Duvalier dictatorship in his home country, Trouillot lifts the lid on how the West has routinely ignored the most successful slave revolt in history in its recording of history. Silencing the Past is one of the best books on Haiti for understanding not only the Haitian Revolution but also how its aftermath has reverberated both in and out of the country for centuries.
Haiti: The Aftershocks Of History – Laurent Dubois
Another one of the best books on Haitian history, leading historian Laurent Dubois traces some of the most devastating events in Haiti’s past and ties them into its present-day state in his book, The Aftershocks of History.
First published in 2011, The Aftershocks of History demonstrates that understanding Haiti’s contemporary issues requires an examination of its complex past. Dubois brings to life the isolation and impoverishment that followed the Haitian Revolution in 1804, revealing the crushing debt imposed by the French that led to a neverending cycle of debt and frequent interventions from the United States. He also explores the bitter debates inside the country about what it should do with its hard-fought liberty, and how these divisions have alienated its leaders from its people. The Aftershocks of History is one of the most impassioned and comprehensive explanations of why Haiti is the way it is, exposing how it has reached the point it exists today, but also showcases how the enduring resilience of the Haitian people could also pave the way for a new Haiti in the future.
General Sun, My Brother – Jacques Stephen Alexis
First published in French back in 1955, General Sun, My Brother is a historical fiction by Haitian novelist Jacques Stephen Alexis. Carrol F. Coates translated the edition from its original French., allowing readers from across the world to finally enjoy it.
General Sun, My Brother narrates the story of Hilarion, a Haitian arrested for stealing a wallet and confined in prison with an enigmatic activist named Pierre Roumel. After his release, Hilarion settles down with a woman named Claire Heureuse, working mercilessly in a mahogany polishing establishment. A fire deprives them of all their possessions, compelling them to relocate to the Dominican Republic, where they become entangled in intrigue, uprisings, and massacres. Although a work of fiction, General Sun, My Brother has received acclaim as one of the finest pieces of Haitian literature, with Alexis earning praise for his authentic and candid portrayal of the historical, political, and social atmosphere prevailing in the country at that time.
What Storm, What Thunder – Myriam J. A. Chancy
Recent Haiti history has been dominated by the 2010 earthquake that decimated the country and brought the world’s attention and relief efforts to its shores. And few books on Haiti do justice to the heartbreaking trauma of the disaster as well as the unwavering resilience shown by those caught in the heart of it than Myriam J. A. Chancy’s 2021 work, What Storm, What Thunder.
The Haitian-born award-winning academic and novelist takes readers into the capital city of Port-au-Prince and across the lives of the locals whose lives were all upended in an instant when the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck. Chancy handles each of their stories with dignity and compassion, from small-time drug dealers, wealthy expats, and taxi-driving musicians to old women selling produce in the marketplace. The result is a book on Haiti that not only depicts the brutal effects and aftermath of one of the most profound natural disasters of the twenty-first century but also into the heart of Haitian society and the daily lives of the people inside the country’s borders.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
