Islands in the Sun

OK, close enough to the end of 2017 for me to determine my favourite reads. Islands in the Sun is my 2017 MOST DISAPPOINTING - I just don't get a clear understanding if what it wants to say.

This was a strange book, and I am not sure I have figured out what it sets out to do.
The author is quite a well known travel writer, and I had, not surprisingly expected a travel book. This however reads quite differently - almost like a promotional publication (published in 1949). It also does other things - it talks politics, some history, it talks about what each of these island nations has its primary economic earners (sugar, coffee, coconuts, spices), it talks about education and religion. It also goes on to describe accommodation options, the entertainments available, and quotes prices. It is also riddled with statics (which largely mean nothing in todays terms - definitely a book written for the times, rather than an enduring work). Social and historical commentary also feature heavily.

Some random examples
P55 Jamaican life is prodigal, So are her politics. They take the place of sport. Everyone with a voice is a politician, the result of universal suffrage at twenty-one.
P64 For all travellers who can afford the comparatively high prices, Jamaica is surely perfect. But hotels can charge 50s. to - in rare cases - £6 a day.
P84 The 1921 crash reduced it by nine-tenths. American investors lost several hundred millions, but just before the second World War the USA has $840,000,000 invested in Cuba. About a third was sugar.”
P90 The Country Club is equally magnificent and also very charming. Its golf is played in velvet. The palms are so assured they see no reason to move - or there may be no wind...
P160 The three obvious necessities of the Caribbean are: 1. Sufficient education... 2. More doctors and better health services... 3. Birth control to limit the population...

So for the the intent of the book is unclear. No matter what exactly it is you are looking for in this book, three quarters of the content would appear to be off target. As I said, maybe I am just missing the point, and the wide coverage is an overall introduction to the Caribbean.

For me 2.5 stars. Rounded down when I think of the company this book would share with some recetn three starred books.