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This is the first scholarly biography of Edward Philip George Seaga, retired prime minister of Jamaica (1980-1989) and former leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (1974-2005). Patrick Bryan examines Seaga in light of the twentieth-century history of Jamaica, which experienced the challenges of race, colour, economic dependence, the transition from the British colonial period to independence in 1962, and the challenges of creating a Jamaican national state and separate cultural identity. Although the study focuses on Edward Seaga, the historical forces that shaped Jamaica's history are central, in particular the way in which he confronted these forces. In placing Seaga in historical perspective, this work strikes a seasoned and balanced analysis of the man and is neither an apologia nor iconoclastic. Based on a variety of primary sources, government records, interviews and secondary sources, the author paints a compelling portrait of a complex man, a contradictory mixture of idealism and pragmatism, but, above all, a Jamaican nationalist who had a profound impact on Jamaican politics, tourism, culture and finance.

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This work is a collection of articles written over many years as well as unpublished new scholarship that explores the common themes of race and class in the Caribbean and overcoming social domination. The essays consider abstract political theory (Marxism and critical and race theory) and also focus on specific Caribbean issues and events such as the portrayals of the Jamaican left, the collapse of the Grenada Revolution and the significance of the affirmation of personhood in a racist society, but all share a concern with overcoming of social domination and are 'radically' oriented. The title has a double meaning insofar as it signifies both the application of radical theory to the Caribbean reality, and the way in which that reality has too often collided with the theory, revealing its inadequacies. As Mills explains, 'The overall aim is to elucidate some classic subjects and themes in radical theory, both generally and with local Caribbean application, and to map in the process a trajectory of intellectual development not peculiar to my own history but traced by many others of my generation also'.