Prize: Haiti's National Palace

In this second book in his Haiti Sun series, publisher Bernard Diederich examines Haiti's disastrous year of 1957 during which politicians, in their battle for the National Palace, brought their Caribbean country to the brink of collapse. The struggle tore families and friends asunder, reared the ugly head of black-versus-mulatto racism-and opened the way for the Machiavellian tyrant, Dr. Francois Duvalier, to attain power. Left in the wake was a proud and creative people who would suffer post-traumatic stress, from Duvalierist dynastic rule, for the next nearly 30 years. At the heart of this societal tragedy was the prize-Haiti's gleaming white National Palace. However, the elegant structure was more than a symbol of power and easily gotten gain. It was a powerful, insidious force that turned potential leaders into beasts and set them to killing each other and innocent citizens. With an ever-increasing population on a finite land surface, this island republic can no longer afford a diseased, dysfunctional political system. Rather, Haitians must work together to make their palace a museum of past errors. In these pages the author, who witnessed and reported the events of 1957, dramatically sets forth the roots of this challenge.