Caribbean Visionary
A. R. F. Webber and the Making of the Guyanese Nation
Caribbean Visionary: A. R. F. Webber and the Making of the Guyanese Nation traces the life of Albert Raymond Forbes Webber (1880–1932), a distinguished Caribbean scholar, statesman, legislator, and novelist. Using Webber as a lens, the book outlines the Guyanese struggle for justice and equality in an age of colonialism, imperialism, and indentureship. In this fascinating work, Selwyn R. Cudjoe examines Webber’s emergence from the interior of Guyana to become a major presence in Caribbean politics.
Caribbean Visionary examines Webber’s insightful novel, Those That Be in Bondage, his travel writings, and his poetry. The book chronicles his formation of the West Indian Press Association, his work on British Guiana’s constitution, and his championing of its people’s causes. Cudjoe studies Webber’s work with the British Guiana Labour Union to improve the conditions of the Guyanese working people and Webber’s authorship of the Centenary History and Handbook of British Guiana.
An important addition to Caribbean intellectual history, Caribbean Visionary is an indispensable work for scholars interested in the region’s literature, political science, and economic thought. It is also an invaluable resource for those who wish to understand the genesis of contemporary Guyana and the English-speaking Caribbean.
Selwyn R. Cudjoe is professor of Africana studies at Wellesley College. He is author of Beyond Boundaries: The Intellectual Tradition of Trinidad and Tobago in the Nineteenth Century, among other books, and his work has appeared in Trinidad and Tobago Review, Callaloo, New Left Review, Harvard Educational Review, and Essence.
