What explains the proliferation of authoritarian regimes some calling themselves socialist in contemporary African and Caribbean politics One of America s leading black scholars assesses the historical and social forces that have undermined democracy and social reform in the societies of Africa and its diaspora. In a brilliant historical sketch of the evolution of revolutionary nationalism, Marable illustrates how the legacies of slavery, forced labor and colonialism have combined to stunt the development of popular self-representation. Considering in detail the key cases of Ghana and Guyana, he explains why mass anti-colonial movements eventually decayed into personalistic and repressive cults around Nkrumah and Burnham. The core of the book is an impassioned and searching analysis of the tragic self-destruction of the Grenadian Revolution in 1983. Increasing reliance on a corrupted democratic centralism within the New Jewel Movement led to its violent implosion followed by Reagan s invasion. While defending the achievements of the martyred Bishop regime, Marable argues that African and Caribbean socialism must find new commitments to egalitarian democracy and pluralism."