“An excellent
example of how oral traditions (mythology), historical sources, and archaeology
can work together to provide richer, more complex views of the human past.”—Choice
“An open-minded
combination of archaeology, ethnohistory, and cultural anthropology.” —Latin
American Antiquity
“Explores the
intersection of myths, beliefs and practices among the different participants
who have written this history.”—Times
of the Islands
“In this bold and
original study William Keegan crafts a complex narrative that combines
archaeology, ethnohistory, ethnology, and linguistics to argue that a famous
contact period Taino chief, Caonabo, originated from a specific impressive
site, MC-6 on Middle caicos.”—Journal
of Anthropological Research
“Keegan's
discussion of the archaeological data of the Bahamian Archipelago in relation
to Hispaniola provides an excellent, updated synthesis of important work that
is not well known even among Caribbeanists.”—Cambridge Archaeological Journal
“Successfully synthesizes over 25 years of
painstaking, innovative research and constitutes a much broader perspective on
Taino myth and society than that offered by previous studies. Keegan’s . . .
interpretations are erudite, original, and highly provocative.”—American
Ethnologist
“A richly textured, deeply personal interpretation of
one incident in Taino/Spanish contact relations, the capture and death of
Cacique Caonabo, a principal chief of the Island of Hispaniola (now the Dominican
Republic and Haiti) in 1494.”—Centro
Journal
“A must read for all serious scholars of Caribbean
prehistory and ethnohistory. Keegan skillfully plays documentary sources
against the archaeological record to reveal the complex nature of Taino-Spanish
interactions and the way mythology, both Taino and Spanish, structured those
relations.”—New West Indian Guide
