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A Haiti Chronicle: The Undoing of a Latent Democracy, 1999-2001

by Daniel Whitman

322 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-1226; ISBN 1-4120-3399-3; US$41.50, C$47.00, EUR34.00, £24.00

Local rulers in Haiti crashed their own three elections of 2000, with foreign governments' compliance. Meanwhile, a national press federation took root and changed forever Haitian political reporting and dialogue.

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About the Book Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince in 1999-2001, Daniel Whitman was haunted by the country's people and landscapes, its nuanced language, and complex and rewarding friendships. His friends included neighbors, art gallery owners, gas station attendants - but mostly Haiti's intrepid journalists and broadcasters. Unlike others, Whitman believed that the three elections of 2000 could advance Haiti's democracy and its development from the bottom rung as poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. He was wrong; they did not. Local supremacists killed, torched and rushed to fraud while foreigners forgave and even blessed the electoral debacles without posing the resistance even of meaningful public comment. However, seeds also germinated to make Haiti one day fit for its inventive, humor-loving and too often betrayed people. The effort was kept alive largely by Haiti's gritty journalists, going into hiding when necessary for their survival, but newly organized in October of 1999, into a tenacious and daring national federation. The nation-wide Haitian Press Federation advanced against all odds, and held eight regional meetings which changed political discourse forever in Haiti. The country now enters a post-Aristide interlude. The failure of one regime does not guarantee success for the next. A Haiti Chronicle offers recent context for understanding Haiti's current crisis, and opportunity.

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Praise for A Haiti Chronicle "This book by Daniel Whitman is gripping - on the one hand, because he describes events with an undeniable passion for irrational facts, experienced in a world of marvels; on the other hand because few American writers have gone to the lengths as he has, in exploring the Haitian universe with a vision that is as clear, and as profoundly human." Adyjeangardy President, Haitian Press Federation "This is the first book to explain clearly what has happened in Haiti over the last few years. The violence is chronicled, catalogued, and dissected. The fear it spread over a largely defenseless population is revealed. If you want to know what it was like to experience day by day the unfolding of a major U.S. policy debacle, read this book, the only one to convey the enormity of the disaster that overtook Haiti during 1999-2002. A splash of cold water especially for sectors in American politics who have averted their gaze for so long. This book removes the last excuse for them to do so." James Morrell Director, Haiti Democracy Project Washington, DC "If you want to understand contemporary Haiti, the real Haiti beneath all the cant and propaganda, then the single best book to read is Dan Whitman's fascinating A Haiti Chronicle." Jeffery Paine Author of Re-enchantment, Father India, and The Poetry of Our World. "Dan Whitman's fascination for Haiti and its people has led to this remarkabale account of events which, like others, have marked our country's two hundred years of turbulent history. This is a testimony of courage - courage to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth." Marie Lourdes Elgirus President, Fondation Femmes en Démocratie (Vital Voices, Haiti chapter) Founder and Coordinator, Toussaint-King Center for Non-Violence in Haiti About the Author Whitman holds a PhD in French (Brown University), and served for the U.S. State Department in Denmark, Spain, South Africa, and Haiti. In Washington he was Cultural Coordinator in the Africa Bureau, and Program and Coordination Officer for the European Bureau. His forty articles range in topic from current affairs, African culture, profiles of Europe, and of cultural leaders on three continents. They have appeared in Musicus, Parabola, The New York Times, The Foreign Service Journal, The Strad, and Research in African Literatures, among other publications. His books are Kaidara, a presentation and study of a 1000-year-old African folk epic; Madrid Inside Out, a guide to residence for foreigners in Spain; and One Step Up, a manual for buyers of stringed instruments. Excerpts Catalogue Information Canada • USA • UK • Europe Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Terms of use | Author Login URL http://www.trafford.com © 1995-2007 Trafford Publishing, a division of Trafford Holdings Ltd.