THE FRENCH IN THE WEST INDIES

This covers a broader range than the title would indicate, for it is really a complete history of the French, not only in the West Indies, but in the Gulf of Mexico district, the South American mainland, the Nicaraguan fiasco. From the encouragement of piracy, under Francis I, the record was one of wars -- with natives, with English, with Spanish, of deals of islands passing from hand to hand, of civil war, by which iti gained independence, the Black Republic. One realizes how far reaching their penetration has been, even where they are no longer in possession. Supplements Roberts' other book on the Caribbean, and should give that book another ""ride"".