A multidisciplinary study that reconstructs Jamaica's rise from low to high life expectancy and explains how that was achieved. Jamaica is one of the small number of countries that has attained a life expectancy nearly matching that in richer countries, despite having a much lower level of per capita income.

Glenford Howe's social history of the soldiers of the British West Indies Regiment assesses the impact of World War One on West Indian history and reveals the true nature of military relations and the gradual decline in morale.