Islands: In Search of Brave New Worlds

Furlong, John

ISBN 10: 1803137142 / ISBN 13: 9781803137148

Published by Matador, 2023

About this Item

Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine.

Seller Inventory # CHL10746885

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Islands: In Search of Brave New Worlds
• Publisher: Matador
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1803137142
• ISBN 13: 9781803137148
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Used; Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

It’s 1969. John and his friend Mike are living and working in Manhattan, making money for their big trip. As they travel, John is trying to figure out what to do with his life and what his values really are. That summer, New York becomes the epicentre of ‘Alternative America’ – drugs, meditation, the anti-war movement, civil rights, feminism, gay liberation. Though enjoyable, John eventually becomes disillusioned – hoping to find something more ‘real’ in the next stage of his travels. He was not to be disappointed.

In the Caribbean, John and Mike experience the beauty and simplicity of island life at a time before the development of mass tourism. But they also have to confront the reality of a collapsing British Empire which lays bare the legacy of 400 years of colonialism and slavery - the poverty and corruption that was always there but that the Brits refused to see. Then on the tiny island of Carriacou - a dependency of Grenada- they meet Father Pat, a charismatic Marxist priest who asks John to join him in his political struggle by helping to establish a community newspaper. The project falls apart when Father Pat is recalled to the US leaving John wondering what he has learned and who the priest really was. Only now, 50 years on, does John finally discover Father Pat’s identity and his role in the Grenadian Marxist-Leninist revolution of 1979 – that country’s ill-fated bid to build a more just society.