'Zacek provides, for the first time, a searching portrait of an eighteenth-century planter society in the British West Indies from the perspective of the whites who ran it and benefited from it. This work is important not just for understanding the Leewards but also for understanding early British America as a whole.' Trevor Burnard, University of Warwick

'Through deftly probing analysis of a wide range of sources, Natalie Zacek deploys her considerable skills as a social historian to argue persuasively, in this wonderfully enlightening and well-written study, that white settler society in the Leeward Islands, whatever its particular characteristics during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, cannot be said to have failed. This book greatly extends our understanding of the significance of the colonial forces, other than those directly connected with plantations and slavery, that shaped the emergence of slave societies in various corners of the Atlantic basin.' David Barry Gaspar, Duke University

'A welcome investigation of the neglected Leeward Islands: diverse communities, united by dependence on slave labor and exposure to natural hazard and foreign invasion. Within these kettled communities, sexual impropriety and small-town politics feature vividly Zacek's forthright profiles of such colorful colonials as Daniel Parke, John Gardiner, and George Frye. Overcoming the challenge of scattered and fragmented public and private archival sources, Zacek urges a reconsideration of West Indies as failed societies. This captivating monograph contributes to the revisionist view of West Indian colonists as both adopters and adapters of recognizable and distinct English social, political, and cultural ideals.' Simon D. Smith, University of Hull