The Rainy Season: Haiti—Then and NowConsidered the best book ever written about Haiti, now updated with a New Introduction, “After the Earthquake,” features first hand-reporting from Haiti weeks after the 2010 earthquake. Through a series of personal journeys, each interwoven with scenes from Haiti’s extraordinary past, Amy Wilentz brings to life this turbulent and fascinating country. Opening with her arrival just days before the fall of Haiti’s President-for-Life, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, Wilentz captures a country electric with the expectation of change: markets that bustle by day explode with gunfire at night; outlaws control country roads; farmers struggle to survive in a barren land; and belief in voodoo and the spirits of the ancestors remains as strong as ever. The Rainy Season demystifies Haiti—a country and a people in cruel and capricious times. From the rebel priest Father Aristide and the street boys under his protection to the military strongmen who pass through the revolving door of power into the gleaming white presidential palace—and the buzzing international press corps members who jet in for a coup and leave the minute it’s over—Wilentz’s Haiti haunts the imagination. |
From inside the book
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... Palace , where I saw four governments installed — one a junta , two elected , one reinstated - has collapsed . Its three preposterous domes are sunken and deflated . Indeed , it looks almost ridiculous in ruin , as if someone had ...
... Palace , where I saw four governments installed — one a junta , two elected , one reinstated - has collapsed . Its three preposterous domes are sunken and deflated . Indeed , it looks almost ridiculous in ruin , as if someone had ...
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... Palace. Even for a good man, the job was too hard, the elements arrayed against him too vast, too complicated, and the possibilities for political and financial corruption too present, too tempting. Eventually, although I had admired ...
... Palace. Even for a good man, the job was too hard, the elements arrayed against him too vast, too complicated, and the possibilities for political and financial corruption too present, too tempting. Eventually, although I had admired ...
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... Palace . The Holiday Inn has a logo of a green palm tree and a bright - orange sun plastered across its stucco front . It also has telephones , and air conditioners that work . But when I looked up through the palms at the Oloffson's ...
... Palace . The Holiday Inn has a logo of a green palm tree and a bright - orange sun plastered across its stucco front . It also has telephones , and air conditioners that work . But when I looked up through the palms at the Oloffson's ...
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... Palace late one night when he noticed that all the lights were out in the living quarters . Hastily presuming that Jean - Claude had fled , he telephoned Washington to let them know the news . In the end , it turned out that Jean ...
... Palace late one night when he noticed that all the lights were out in the living quarters . Hastily presuming that Jean - Claude had fled , he telephoned Washington to let them know the news . In the end , it turned out that Jean ...
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... palace where wife and friends store their furs . ( “ Yeah , but has anyone ever seen it ? " ) And now AIDS . The best . Even if Baskethead stayed on for another ten years , the journalists ' time would not be wasted . Keith , the ...
... palace where wife and friends store their furs . ( “ Yeah , but has anyone ever seen it ? " ) And now AIDS . The best . Even if Baskethead stayed on for another ten years , the journalists ' time would not be wasted . Keith , the ...
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Common terms and phrases
American Aristide Aristide's armed Army asked attack Avril Ayiti barricade began Benito bidonville bishops Boutilliers boys called Cap-Haïtien Carrefour Casernes charcoal Chavannes church Cité Soleil clairin Colonel countryside coup coup d'état courtyard Creole crowd dancing Dechoukaj Dessalines dollars drums Duvalier Duvalier's Duvalierists elections foreign François François Duvalier French friends front girls Gonaïves gunfire guns Haiti Haitian hand head houngan Jean-Claude Jean-Claude Duvalier Jean-Rabel jeep Jolicoeur journalists junta killed knew laughed Legliz live looked machetes Manigat Marc Bazin massacre Mimette mulatto Namphy Namphy's night Ogoun Oloffson palace Paul peasants peristyle Pétionville photographer pigs political Port-au-Prince priest Prosper Avril Radio Soleil rain road Salesian Saline says Senatorial Candidate slaves slums smiled soldiers St.-Jean-Bosco stopped street talk tap-tap tell Titid told Tontons Macoute town trees truck turned voodoo Waldeck watched women young zombi