From "The Haitian Political Situation and Its Effect on the Dominican Republic: 1849-1877," William J. Nelson, The Americas, vol. 45, no. 2, (1988), page 227:
The Dominican Republic, which has once again exhibited the fragility of its political institutions by taking over two weeks to ascertain a winner in its last presidential election...This paper also uses the phrase, "one of the worst politicians in all of Latin American history". No, it's no one you're likely to know. Incidentally, if you were writing a short summary of Trujillo's reign, would you put Trujillo's Rwandan-style machete massacre of several tens of thousands of Haitian-Dominicans in 1937 at the forefront (worst act of a despicable man), in the middle (chronologically), or as a passing aside twenty pages later (Jared Diamond)?
"Incidentally, if you were writing a short summary of Trujillo's reign, would you put Trujillo's Rwandan-style machete massacre of several tens of thousands of Haitian-Dominicans in 1937 at the forefront (worst act of a despicable man), in the middle (chronologically), or as a passing aside twenty pages later (Jared Diamond)?"
So, are we ever going to see that extended smackdown of Diamond?
Best,
Bruce
Posted by: Bruce Munro | July 04, 2006 at 12:42 AM
... I don't like being angry.
Posted by: Carlos | July 04, 2006 at 06:48 AM
Damnit, Carlos. I'm almost willing to steal some of Lyuda's Crimean wine - Magarach and Massandra wineries - as a bribe to you into doing your full review.
Posted by: Will Baird | July 05, 2006 at 09:17 AM