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The Grooming of a Chancellor is Sir George Alleynes autobiography. He was born in 1932 in St Philip, Barbados, the first of the seven children of Eileen, a homemaker, and Clinton Alleyne, a schoolmaster. With his signature charm, Alleyne recounts his experiences from primary and secondary school in racially divided Barbados to gaining a Barbados Scholarship to study medicine at the fledgling University College of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica. Here he met and married a Jamaican woman, Sylvan Chen, and was socialized permanently as a West Indian. The process of that socialization and the intellectual environment of those early days at Mona would influence the rest of his life. Alleyne enjoyed a stellar academic career with prolific research output, and he remained for many years at the University of the West Indies, where he became a professor of medicine and had an enduring impact on generations of students. He entered the field of international health through the Pan American Health Organization, of which he became director  the first Caribbean national and non-Latin to do so. Alleyne recounts highlights of his management approach and the commitment to equity which characterized his terms of office. The work of international bodies is often bound up in politics, but he navigated these and influenced the discourse at the highest levels. He had a strong commitment to and was active in Caribbean health, especially HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and control.

In 2003, Alleyne returned to the University of the West Indies, his Capistrano in the Caribbean, as chancellor, and for fourteen years he executed the functions of that office in a manner that enhanced the public persona of his alma mater. His has been a remarkable journey, one he shares with readers through his memories and personal reflections.

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My Political Journey is P.J. Pattersons account of his time as an active and successful participant in the political and social development of Jamaica and the Caribbean, from the mid-1950s well into the early 2000s. He was widely regarded as a master political strategist and universally acknowledged as an astute negotiator.

Jamaica is an enigma: its global impact belies its population and geographical size. This story of one of its most exceptional citizens is an enlightening revelation of the islands political and cultural narrative. Patterson was born in 1935, the dawn of a new era in the development of Jamaica and the Caribbean. A previously disenfranchised population would gain a voice through universal adult suffrage and have a say in the direction of the nations affairs. Within a few decades, an independent nation would emerge to make a significant impact on the global landscape. Patterson is both a product of this new Jamaica and one of its architects, and his is a compelling and intimate account of a dramatic era for the young nation.

P.J. Patterson led his country with distinction, implementing policies and programmes to foster social renewal and the development of a modern Jamaica that was prepared to face the challenges of the new millennium. Throughout his career in the Peoples National Party, he gained international respect through the pivotal roles he played in the advancement of the causes of the developing countries of the world. My Political Journey recounts his performance at the national, regional and global levels and is a fascinating record of a nations postcolonial growth.