Bianca Premo, Children of the Father King: Youth, Authority, and Legal Minority in Colonial Lima (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2005), pp. xi+349, $59.95, $24.95, pb.
evidence which confirms the west to east spread of the materially deprived areas of Kingston. It was interesting to read that the term changed from ‘slum’ to ‘ghetto ’ from the early 1970s, the point at which political (and other) gangs were becoming active in the downtown region of the city. Chapter 6 on ‘Politics, Violence and Drugs ’ and Chapter 7, ‘Decolonization and the Politics of National Culture ’, differ from the preceding chapters in that they rely primarily on secondary source material. Chapter 6 draws on a number of useful sources to provide a coherent overview of the relationship between the political parties and drugs. Chapter 7 takes a very different, but relevant, perspective on decolonisation by focusing on the strengthening development of a Jamaican culture. In particular, the section on the importance of reggae and dancehall music as forms of political and cultural expression is fascinating. In the conclusion, Clarke provides a very useful summary of the main argument and expands his analysis by comparing Kingston with Johannesburg and with São Paulo in relation to desegregation (in the case of the former) and violence (for the latter). In summary, this is a well written, interesting and informative book which convincingly highlights the ways in which a focus on one city since the colonial period can illuminate wider social, political and economic trends and development. This is the strength of the book – as it was with the original study Clarke published in 1975. A possible shortcoming is that, at times, the book seemed to lack coherence : in particular Chapters 6 and 7 might have been better integrated within the overall framework of the text. In addition, a chapter which developed the comparative analysis would have further strengthened the book. However, these are minor comments. I would definitely recommend this book to students and scholars of the Caribbean. It provides both useful data and a clear theoretical perspective that will prove useful and challenging to future researchers, scholars, and students.