This book presents an anthology of writings about the Amerindian inhabitants of the Caribbean, from such diverse sources as the first reports of Columbus, French missionary tracts, the diaries of English colonial administrators, and modern ethnographers, travel writers, and film makers. This material has been carefully selected to illustrate the development of non-Amerindian knowledge of and attitudes towards the society and culture of the so-called 'Island Caribs', who once dominated the whole of the Lesser Antilles and who continue to act today as a potent symbol of resistance to, and independence from, the modern nation-state. -- Publisher description.