This is a phoenix from the ashes of natural disaster. It is an historically significant song of survival that poignantly juxtaposes the fallout of the century's most vicious tropical storm & the architectural chronology of the Caribbean island of St. Croix. St. Croix, the largest of the U. S. Virgin Islands, sustained massive damages when the eye of Hurricane Hugo passed directly over it on September 17-18, 1989. In "Portraits of Historic St. Croix," author Dorene E. Carter, Ph.D., creates an evocative pre-Hugo, post-Hugo ...
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This is a phoenix from the ashes of natural disaster. It is an historically significant song of survival that poignantly juxtaposes the fallout of the century's most vicious tropical storm & the architectural chronology of the Caribbean island of St. Croix. St. Croix, the largest of the U. S. Virgin Islands, sustained massive damages when the eye of Hurricane Hugo passed directly over it on September 17-18, 1989. In "Portraits of Historic St. Croix," author Dorene E. Carter, Ph.D., creates an evocative pre-Hugo, post-Hugo tapestry. Here, a classic 19th-century West Indian cottage appears on the opposite page as a pile of splinters & twisted metal. There, a congregation poses sedately in front of the Frederiksted Wesleyan Holiness Church which, on the facing leaf, is reduced to a heap of rubble. Historians & historical preservationists will delight in the narrative detail, from quaint descriptions of arcaded building & pitched "hip" roofs to the anectodal captions. And anyone who has ever been curious about the aftermath of a hurricane will be spellbound by the graphic plates of Hugo's decimation & stark before & after contrast of both the structures & the environment. Carter, who was born & raised on St. Croix, where she publishes a quarterly magazine called Caribbean Digest, took most of the 97 intriguing color photographs herself. She is also the editor & publisher. The resulting duality is the book's singular charm: It is at once a loving pictorial memento for those who understand the implications of natural disaster & an intimate testimonial to the timeless Caribbean resilience of St. Croix.
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