The Dead Yard : Tales of Modern Jamaica

Jamaica used to be the source of much of Britain's wealth, a tropical paradise for the planters, a Babylonian exile for the Africans shipped to the Caribbean. It became independent in 1962. Yet today, Jamaica is a country in despair—a place where extraordinary musical tradition and physical beauty are shadowed by gang warfare, drug crime, poverty, casual murder, police brutality and political corruption. Haunted by the legacy of imperialism, its social and racial divisions seem entrenched.

Ian Thomson shows a side of Jamaica that tourists rarely see. He met ordinary Jamaicans in their homes and workplaces, and his encounters with the white elite, who still own most of Jamaica's businesses and newspapers, are unforgettable. Thomson brings alive the country's unique racial and ethnic mix, the all-pervading influence of the USA, and the increasing disillusionment felt by its people, who can't rely on the state for their most basic security.

At the heart of the book is Jamaica's tense, uneasy relationship with Britain, to whom it remains politically and culturally bound.