Sheila's Reviews > The Rainy Season

Fabulous on-the-ground, well-written account of Haiti from the fall of Baby Doc through a few turbulent years after. Wilentz covers her story from the found up, as opposed to being focused on interviewing / following wealthy / powerful people. She respects Haitians and provides many wonderful accounts of real, intelligent, poor people struggling through adversity and fighting for change. I have followed the Haitian struggle for democracy and was well-aware of Aristide, but this book provides such a great accounting of his rise and the rise of the Lavalas movement, including the poetic origin of that name for their movement - with Lavalas meaning "the Flood" (in Creole) of Haitians rising to justice.