Mr Dubois writes admiringly of Haitians' “counter-plantation” system-communitarian, small-scale agriculture, borne out of a rejection of anything that looked liked the mass farming for export of the slave era. The most intriguing part of his tale is the one that contradicts this thesis. Yet his own version paints ordinary Haitians as the passive victims of foreign and domestic malefactors, with no “inherent shortcomings” or responsibility for their society's underdevelopment. Mr Dubois upbraids rival accounts of Haitian history for their lack of “complex interpretations”. The only president to break this mutinous pattern was François Duvalier, a murderous megalomaniac whose 1957-71 reign of terror exceeded even the Americans' ruthlessness. The constant marginalisation of rural peasants from politics led to an endless series of rebellions and coups. In practice, however, they ruled autocratically on behalf of urban elites, with the help of an over-mighty army. One after another they preached liberal values of checks and balances, inclusion and democratic participation. Haiti's home-grown leaders were little better. Mr Dubois describes in wrenching detail the American army's brutality, including mass murder and forced labour. In 1915 the president who vowed to “make the world safe for democracy” sent his army to occupy Haiti, where it stayed until 1934.

And American firms lobbied for access to its land and public-works contracts.

Although Woodrow Wilson's officials knew little of Haiti-“Think of it! Niggers speaking French!” exclaimed William Jennings Bryan, the secretary of state-they coveted the country's harbours. Meanwhile, European countries regularly sent warships to Haiti to extort funds from the government.Īmerica's imperialism was even more direct. The national treasury was under French control for decades. But France refused to accept it until 1825, when Haiti agreed to pay a huge indemnity, financed with usurious loans from French banks. Since new captives were constantly brought in to replace the 5-10% that died every year, two-thirds of the population was African-born.Ī successful slave revolt won Haiti its independence in 1804. France created it as the world's most extreme slave colony: in 1789 slaves outnumbered freemen by ten to one. Although nationalists in the developing world often instinctively blame foreigners for their troubles, Haiti's grievances are indisputable. He argues that Haiti's woes stem from a legacy of “powerful political leaders and institutions, inside and outside the country, have ignored and suppressed the aspirations of Haiti's majority.” It recounts the country's political, economic and social history from the colonial era to the present. Mr Dubois's new book aims to counter-act those misconceptions.

Haiti by Laurent Dubois