In the battle for empire that was the Seven Years' War, France's Sugar Islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique, were stakes as important as the Dominion of Canada. This book sketches the background strategy that led William Pitt to send an expedition to capture them, but it is chiefly the story of the campaign itself. Originally published in 1955. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Until now there has not been a serious study of the rifle-armed regiments of the British Army that earned such renown in the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns. Compiled by a former rifleman, Ray Cusick, who has written extensively on the subject, Wellington's Rifles examines the new rifle regiments, how they came about, their development and their actions.??The author also investigates the introduction of rifled muskets into the British Army in the French and Indian wars of the eighteenth century, where they were shunned by the military establishment, to their transition into a key element in Wellington's extraordinarily successful Peninsular army. The training and tactics of the riflemen are explained and each significant engagement in which they were involved is explored in thrilling detail. It was the riflemen of the 95th Regiment that inspired the series of Sharpe books and films. That was the fiction; this is the reality. The publication will be introduced by the renowned Napoleonic historian Ian Fletcher.

When Michael Redferne pulls the body of twenty year old Maureen Kelly from a frozen Irish lake, something tells him he should leave well enough alone. But fear conquers instinct and he hides the frozen corpse in the ice house on Lord Preston’s estate. Unaware that sinister forces in the persons of Lady Preston and her lover are conspiring against him, he walks into a trap and is shipped in chains to Barbados, known as Sugar Island. Once there, Redferne joins thousands of African and Irish laborers who are forced to work in the cane fields from dawn to dusk under the cowhide whips of brutal overseers. The rising and setting sun becomes a doomsday clock, ticking off Redferne’s slow march to the grave. He must escape if he hopes to redeem his past and save his future.

Plantations, especially sugar plantations, created slave societies and a racism persisting well into post-slavery periods: so runs a familiar argument that has been used to explain the sweep of Caribbean history. Here one of the most eminent scholars of modern social theory applies this assertion to a comparative study of most Caribbean islands from the time of the American Revolution to the Spanish American War. Arthur Stinchcombe uses insights from his own much admired Economic Sociology to show why sugar planters needed the help of repressive governments for recruiting disciplined labor. Demonstrating that island-to-island variations on this theme were a function of geography, local political economy, and relation to outside powers, he scrutinizes Caribbean slavery and Caribbean emancipation movements in a world-historical context. Throughout the book, Stinchcombe aims to develop a sociology of freedom that explains a number of complex phenomena, such as how liberty for some individuals may restrict the liberty of others. Thus, the autonomous governments of colonies often produced more oppressive conditions for slaves than did so-called arbitrary governments, which had the power to restrict the whims of the planters. Even after emancipation, freedom was not a clear-cut matter of achieving the ideals of the Enlightenment. Indeed, it was often a route to a social control more efficient than slavery, providing greater flexibility for the planter class and posing less risk of violent rebellion.

Emily, an English actress, has arrived in Georgia to begin life with her new husband Charles. On arriving, Emily realises that Charles has been keeping a terrible secret from her - he is a slaveowner. She tries to reconcile herself to his way of life, but soon finds herself caught up in the lives of the slaves.