Melville House Books

In a commentary for The Albany Times Union, Edwidge Danticat proposes the American invasion of Haiti in 1915 as a cautionary tale: “By the end of the occupation, more than 15,000 Haitians had lost their lives. A Haitian gendarmerie was trained to replace the U.S. Marines, then proceeded to form juntas, organize coups and terrorize Haitians for decades. . . . Ninety years later, there are many, including some current foreign policy experts, who maintain that Haiti, like recently occupied Iraq, should be declared a failed state.” Says Danticat, “Iraq, take heed.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.