True and Exact History of the Island of Barbados

Karen Ordahl Kupperman is Silver Professor of History, New York University.

"Ligon's True and Exact History is perhaps the most important document regarding English colonization efforts in the 17th-century Caribbean. The book offers a wealth of information about the natural world--Barbados's climate, flora, and fauna--as well as social and economic conditions on the island in the late 1640s. Scholars have long used the text as a source for tracing the development of sugar and slavery, in particular. Although previously available in a facsimile edition, Kupperman's is the first modern, edited version of the text, and it is a most welcome publication. Kupperman, one of the foremost scholars of the 17th-century Atlantic world, has written an excellent introduction that outlines what is known about Ligon and provides context on issues ranging from early modern ideas about the environment, to conditions in Barbados during the tobacco era, to the rise of sugar and the island's place in England's emerging empire. Throughout, Kupperman provides detailed, useful notes that make the text accessible to students and others. . . . This is a first-rate example of historical editing. Highly recommended." --M. Mulcahy, Loyola College in Maryland, in CHOICE