Craton performs an invaluable service by chronicling the continuity and persistence of slave resistance. He extends the implications of the argument that that West Indian slaves constructed a proto-peasant society in the shadow of the plantation, shielding themselves from some of its stultifying restrictions and forging networks of resistance.

Scholars interested in determining the causes of slave rebellions, the characteristics of rebel slave leadership, the autonomous organizations developed, and the ideology and styles of rebellious behavior will find this work an invaluable sourcebook.

The strength of this book derives from its nice, neat, and convenient compilation of plots and revolts throughout the English Caribbean. Craton's compilation illustrates that in the earlier period the revolts and plots were dominated by Africans or maroons, while the later revolts involved creole slaves often in high-status positions in the plantation occupational structure.