What would have happened if the Irish had conquered and controlled a vast empire? Would they have been more humane rulers than the English? Using the Caribbean island of Montserrat as a case study of "Irish" imperialism, Donald Akenson addresses these questions and provides a detailed history of the island during its first century as a European colony.

Montserrat is a small island in the Leeward islands of the eastern Caribbean and at present a British Overseas Territory. It has suffered greatly in recent times, first from the devastations of Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and since 1995 from the still-ongoing eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano that has caused two-thirds of the island’s population to emigrate and left half the island a dangerous exclusion zone. Archaeological research here began only in the late 1970s, but work over the past four decades has now made it possible to present an archaeological history of Montserrat, from the earliest known traces of human activity on the island about 5,000 years ago to the present. This book draws on all the available archaeological evidence (including that from the co-authors’ own island-wide survey and excavation project since 2010), as well as newly available archival documents, to trace this little island’s long history and heritage. This is not the story of an isolated and remote island: Montserrat is shown rather to be a place intricately connected to the flows of people and goods that have travelled between islands and across the Atlantic at various points in time, both Amerindian and historical. Despite its small size and seeming irrelevance, Montserrat has in fact always been networked into regional and global systems of connectivity. An underlying theme of this volume is resilience. It presents insights from the archaeological and documentary evidence on how the island’s inhabitants have coped with often adverse conditions throughout the course of its history – hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, slavery, disease, invasions, and impoverishment – all while remaining proudly connected to heritage that celebrates the accomplishments of island residents.

Come explore the delightful island of Montserrat and its dangerous volcano! The island of Montserrat in the Caribbean has an active volcano! After hundreds of years of quiet, the Soufriere Hills Volcano awoke in 1995, bringing with it dangers like volcanic ash, pyroclastic flows, and lahars. Come explore this wonderful island with two Montserratian children as they teach you about their volcano and how scientists keep watch over it. This fully-illustrated book is written in rhyme."

This book focuses on the highly touristed, but surprisingly under-researched Lesser Antilles region. After offering a brief overview of the region’s geologic and tectonic history, as well as its basic climatology, subsequent chapters then discuss each island’s (or island set’s) geomorphology and geology, and how the settlement history, tourism, and hazards have affected their individual landscapes. Written by regional experts and replete with up-to-date information, stunning color imagery, and beautiful cartography (maps), it is the only comprehensive, scientific evaluation of the Lesser Antilles, and serves as the region’s definitive reference resource. Accessible to non-experts and amateur explorers, the book includes in-depth discussions and reference sections for each island/island set. Usable as both a textbook and guidebook, it offers readers a straightforward yet detailed assessment of an interesting and intriguing – but often-overlooked and under-appreciated – locale.