Taking Haiti

“Renda’s examination of Haiti is a fine example of a second wave of scholarship that has emphasized cultural interaction, especially issues related to gender and race.” — CHOICE

“A study of the cultural characteristics and consequences of the intervention rather than as a complete narrative of events. This innovative work is less about Haiti than about the United States. That focus allows Renda to provide new insights on the occupation. . . . One of the most important accomplishments of Taking Haiti is Renda’s persuasive argument that the Haitian intervention occupies a pivotal place in the formation of twentieth-century American culture. A historical episode often treated as an oddity is inscribed here as central to an emerging national conversation about race, gender, and power.” — Journal of American History

“Renda uses a wide collection of materials from diaries, memoirs, letters, books, plays, and the arts to produce an excellent cultural study of the development of American imperialism. Recommended for all libraries.” — Library Journal

“[A] significant and exciting contribution to this growing interdisciplinary field. . . . Prodigiously researched and persuasively argued. . . . Without doubt, the research, analysis, and conclusions presented in this work will shape, enrich, and inspire scholarship in these and related fields for time to come.” — Caribbean Studies

“Renda makes a sterling contribution to this growing literature [on the U.S. occupation of Haiti] with a bold and provocative look at the interplay of race, gender, culture, and national identity in U.S.-Haitian relations.” — Florida Historical Quarterly

“[A] provocative and insightful interpretation of twentieth-century United States imperialism.” — History

“[Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism] does an excellent job of establishing a cultural and historical context for Haiti and the United States before the intervention.” — Eurospan

“This is a unique synergy of the historical and the mythic aspects of the quarter-century U.S. occupation of Haiti. Renda’s interpretation of Haiti as 'America’s Africa' combines an empathetic analysis of the American military presence with a provocative discussion of interventionist paternalism’s impact on America’s identity. The occupation simultaneously made U.S. imperialism more resilient and led to the destabilizing of central cultural forms, especially in the contexts of race and gender.” — Dennis E. Showalter, Colorado College

“Taking Haiti provides a superb analysis of the complex cultural meanings of the Haitian occupation as well as its aftermath on the North American mainland. Renda paints a nuanced panorama of gendered imperialism, from policymakers and enforcers in Haiti, to confused Marines, to writers, playwrights, and other intellectuals invoking Haiti as they threaded their ways through the maze of American gender, racial, and national identities. Renda delineates the complexities and ironies of these stories with great sensitivity and lucidity.” — Gail Bederman, University of Notre Dame

“Renda draws from a wide variety of texts — marines' memoirs, missionary reports, pulp fiction, official documents, African American and Haitian literature — to suggest the multiple meanings of the United States occupation of Haiti. She integrates cultural analysis related to gender, race, class, and nation into international history, producing a sophisticated and highly readable book suitable both for classrooms and for specialists.” — Emily S. Rosenberg, Macalester College