Haiti: The Duvaliers and Their Legacy

Recounts
the depredations and corruption of the Duvalier regime in Haiti, detailing the
excesses of both Papa and Baby Doc Duvalier and the grim state in which
they left the country when the regime was finally overthrown.

Written
by the senior editor of the Haiti Times (and sister-in-law of Baby Doc's
successor, General Henri Namphy), this is the most intimate and revealing
examination to date of the Duvalier years.

Based
largely on interviews with former officials, intellectuals, voudou priests and
ordinary folk, Abbott provides a shocking view of conditions in the Black
Republic from the 1957 election of Duvalier père to the exile of his son,
Jean-Claude, in 1986, and up to the installation of President Leslie Manigat
two years later.

For
the most part, it is a nightmarish chronicle of corruption, greed and
relentless slaughter, climaxing in an account of "Blood Sunday" (29
November 1987) when the dreaded Tonton Macoutes reemerged to sabotage
Haiti's first free election in 30 years.

Abbott
traces the transformation of Francois Duvalier from puritanical country doctor
to mad despot, the rise of the Macoutes gangs under Madame Max Adolphe
and their political rivalry with the Haitian army, and the bizarre,
lackadaisical reign of Jean-Claude Duvalier, including details of the
reckless squandering of public funds by his wife Michelle.