Sidney W. Mintz, one of 11 pamphlets in the Focus Caribbean series, published the Wilson Center's Latin American Program.
Beyond the beaches and modern hotels that beckon American tourists to the 15 island-nations and 17 depen- dent territories of the Caribbean lie endangered rural peasant societies.
On their reinvigoration, says Mintz, a Johns Hopkins anthropologist, may depend the political health of the is- lands themselves.
In an unusual way, the Caribbean's peasants are products of European...