Combining the African sources and British colonial traditions, this poetry shares its roots with rap and reggae and has the same hold on the popular imagination. It discusses the work of more than thirty poets and performers and gives detailed analyses of the major ones.

This introduction to West Indian poetry is written for readers making their first approach to the poetry of the Caribbean written in English. It offers a comprehensive literary history from the 1920s to the 1980s, with particular attention to the relationship of West Indian poetry to European, African and American literature. Close readings of individual poems give detailed analysis of social and cultural issues at work in the writing. Laurence Breiner's exposition speaks powerfully about the defining forces in Caribbean culture from colonialism to resistance and decolonization.

This book presents a critical analysis of all of Roach's published poetry, but it presents that interpretation as part of a broader study of the relations between his poetic activity, the political events he experienced (especially West Indian Federation, Independence, the Black Power movement, the February Revolution of 1970 Trinidad), and the seminal debates about art and culture in which he participated.