I recently read In Darkness by nick lake. It’s a fictional book about a Haitian gang member being trapped by rubble by the 2010 earthquake. While trapped he hallucinates that he is Toussaint Louverture.
Gave me City of God (2002) vibes for some reason.
by conradicalsmith108
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Really anything fiction or nonfiction by Edwidge Danticat. The Farming of Bones, a novel, was particularly important in bringing the history of brutal conflict between Haiti and the D.R. to the outside world.
Mountains Beyond Mountains is Tracey Kidder’s biography of Dr. Paul Farmer who founded Partners in Health, an international medical aid organization which he began in Haiti while still in medical school.
Paul Farmer wrote various books on Haiti, most important of which is Haiti After the Earthquake, which looked at the complications and failure of international aid in regards to natural disasters. His love of the country made him one of the most informed, but sympathetic outsiders to write on Haiti.
Last year’s Black AF History has one of the best concise and encapsulated histories of Haiti in one of its chapters that I’ve ever read. The book is irreverent and darkly humorous, which is important to know going into it. But the chapter could completely stand alone as a read, and I learned much that I hadn’t known or full understood before. Especially about reparations to France and the US’s involvement and complications.