Books for sale written by Dr. and Mrs. Jagan
The following books written by Dr. Cheddi Jagan and Mrs. Janet Jagan are available for sale. Please check bottom of page for details on purchasing these important publications. You can read also read Book Reviews on several of these books.
Profits from the sale of all the following books will be donated to the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre.
Forbidden Freedom - The Story of British Guiana by Cheddi Jagan
The West on Trial , My Fight for Guyana’s Freedom by Cheddi Jagan
The Caribbean Revolution
The Caribbean Whose Backyard?
Selected Speeches 1992-1994 by Cheddi Jagan
Cheddi Jagan : My Fight For Guyana’s Freedom- with Reflections on my Father by Nadira Jagan-Brancier
The USA in South America by Cheddi Jagan
A New Global Human Order by Cheddi Jagan
Janet Jagan: Unpublished Stories & Poems by Janet Jagan
The Alligator Ferry Service and Other Stories from Guyana by Janet Jagan
Cheddi Jagan - Forbidden Freedom - The Story of British Guiana
In 1953, after only 133 days in office, Dr. Jagan’s government was deposed by the British colonialists. This book, Forbidden Freedom - Story of British Guiana first published in 1954 (while Dr. Jagan was in prison) appeared in the aftermath of that military intervention. He showed how this fitted in to both the colonial policy of Britain and the “Cold War” spearheaded by the United States. It includes an analysis of: ”Labour and the Colonies” and shows who are the genuine and who are the false democrats.
In the original epilogue, chapter 12 in this third edition, Dr. Jagan predicts the later split in the PPP “along ideological and racial lines.”
The second edition, published in 1989, included a new preface by the author, calling for a break in the policies that he notes are leading both the developed and developing worlds towards disaster.
Guyana returned to democracy on October 5, 1992 and Cheddi Jagan became the first democratically elected president. He was sworn in on October 9, 1992 exactly 39 years after he had been forcibly removed from office on October 9, 1953.
The new epilogue (written in 1993) is the last chapter in this new edition and is laden with his ideas and plans for a new Guyana. and its people.
Price: $15.00 Canadian
Cheddi Jagan -The West on Trial , My Fight for Guyana’s Freedom
Cheddi Jagan's autobiographical work "The West on Trial” is a monumental study of the social, political and economic history of Guyana from the time of European colonization to 1966, when it was first published. There is an additional epilogue in the latest edition released in 2004.
Although Dr Jagan has written voluminously, "The West on Trial" remains his most enduring work, and it is his political testament. It is the unrivalled and definitive study of Guyana's fight for self-determination, against overwhelming odds. But it is also an invaluable resource for students of Guyana's early history. The rivalry among the Dutch, French and British for control of the territory is chronicled with the flair and intellectual rigour of a consummate historian.
The volume captures the atmosphere, tone and tenor of the early postwar years, with the excitement and sense of impending change being palpable. It sweep spans a time when legendary and well-know figures graced, or blighted, the political landscape.
Cheddi Jagan accurately gauged the configuration of historical and social forces which were transforming British Guiana. Moreover, his analysis of the impact that World War II had on the international system indicated a firm grasp of the circumstances which gave rise to the post-war world, Guyana included. However, the main thrust of the book centres on the political events which spanned the 1940s, 1950s, and the early to mid-60s, with these decades being the most pivotal years in Guyana's history.
The major portion of the study therefore, concerns itself with the efforts of British and American governments to harass and destabilize Cheddi Jagan's government. The suspension of the Waddington Constitution in 1953, the machinations against the PPP governments formed in 1957 and 1961, the riot in February, 1962 and the refusal of British forces to aid the civil power, the opposition inspired strikes of 1963 and C.I.A support for them, the hair-raising accounts of the internecine violence, Forbes Burnham's unbridled campaign for power at any cost and proportional representation as the plan hatched to attain it, Kennedy's fear of another "Cuba" in Latin America, and Harold MacMillan's eagerness to assist Kennedy, are all meticulously documented and situated in their respective contexts.
The epilogue of the current edition includes a virtual manifesto of policies which the PPP/Civic government will pursue. The ideas advanced are enlightened and far-reaching, and of course are guided by the principles that promote social justice, which is the overarching concern of this com-prehensive study. And it is in this spirit of fostering social justice that Cheddi Jagan has outlined his proposal for a New Global Human Order to remedy the inequities occasioned by the present neo-colonial order.
"The West on Trial" is compulsory reading for any student of Guyanese politics, the decolonialization process and the Cold War. And it will remain so for many years. The scholarship and prescience evident in the reportage and analysis of the momentous events which the study addresses, ensure that it will have a place of honour among the autobiographies of twentieth-century giants.
Price: $25.00 Canadian
Cheddi Jagan - Selected Speeches 1992-1994
This volume contains speeches by the late Guyanese President Cheddi Jagan, who is universally regarded as one of the most principled political leaders of the Third World. These speeches delivered at various fora between November 1992 and June 1994, testify to his integrity of vision and his eloquent concern for the potential as well as the plight of the Guyanese people over forty years of political action. There is constant emphasis on the virtues of democracy, human rights, and transparent and honest government. Its message is important not only for the Caribbean but also for the Third World as a whole.
Price: $15.00 Canadian
Cheddi Jagan : My Fight for Guyana’s Freedom - with Reflections on my Father by Nadira Jagan-Brancier
This is an abridged and illustrated version of "The West On Trial" compiled by Dr. Jagan's daughter, who in her own words wanted to "allow the reader a closer and more intimate look into my father's life... Photographs tell a story all by themselves!... and my wish was to share my father's life with everyone."
The book is in hardcover, with a striking photograph of Dr. Jagan in his younger years on the dust jacket. Accompanying over 350 photographs in the volume are quotations by Dr. Jagan, tributes to him and reflections by his daughter.
The pictures chosen by Nadira Jagan-Brancier for her book, have helped to define her father's
irreducible and essential humanity. These photographs and the accompanying text, represent the odyssey of Dr Jagan's life, which was of epic proportions. They portray triumph, glory, (though it was unsolicited), betrayal, success and finally, vindication. This new genre, text wrapped around photographs, is admirably suited to the formidable task of giving substance, shape, form, as it were, to the events and personalities that spanned half-a-century.
Moreover, in the absence of television reportage in Guyana in the fifties, sixties, seventies and early eighties, the photographs provide a valuable record of the other Guyanese personalities who were also a part of our political landscape.
For those born in the early post-war years, it will be a retrospective on those momentous events which gripped and absorbed the nation, and gave the occupants of the White House and Whitehall, anxious moments. And for their children, it will help to explain the events which so inflamed the passions of their parents.
The great strength and charm of this book lies in its ability to portray the grace, dignity and fullness of Cheddi Jagan's life.
Price: $45.00 Canadian
Cheddi Jagan - The USA in South America
As Dr Havelock Brewster has observed in his foreword, the papers comprising "The USA in South America, and other essays" are very much a product of their time, and it is in this context that they should be read.
This captivating study of Guyana and the international arena consists of five papers in the form of chapters, and a letter to President Kennedy written by Premier Jagan in 1963. The first and fifth papers are based on Guyana, the second on the Non-aligned Movement, the third on the Caribbean and Central America, and the fourth (and most intellectually engaging) on the theory of vital interests and security zones. The essays provide a perspective on Latin America and superpower relations viewed through a Marxist prism.
They were written between 1968 and 1986, when the Cold War raged with great ferocity internationally, and the long-suffering people of Guyana endured Forbes Burnham's despotism, economic mismanagement and electoral fraud. And quite appropriately, these essays were situated within the context of the American vice grip on their backyard, Latin America, and Burnham's opportunism in exploiting American fear and antipathy towards the possible return of a government led by Cheddi Jagan.
The permutations of U.S foreign policy, based on the worldview of successive American Presidents, is analysed and dissected within the context of the American desire to, in essence, make the world safe for capitalism.
The two decades on which the papers are based were eventful. They encompassed a time of great upheaval in Latin America. Salvador Allende's government in Chile was overthrown, the Sandinistas were under the gun from Reagan-funded mercenaries, Maurice Bishop was assassinated in Grenada, the liberation struggle in El Salvador was stalemated due to American intervention, as it was in Guyana.
Dr Jagan's grasp of these, and other regional and international issues, and the intellectual depth and emotive power he communicated in his writings, will engage any reader. This book is vintage Cheddi Jagan.
Selected Speeches 1992-1994 by Cheddi Jagan
This volume contains a collection of President Jagan’s speeches delivered at various fora between November 1992 and June 1994. They testify to his integrity of vision and his eloquent concern for the potential as well as the plight of the Guyanese people. The crippling burden of foreign debt and its disturbing impact on human development is highlighted as are problems faced by the country after 28 years of rule by the People’s National Congress (PNC). What emerges is, above all, President Jagan’s optimism regarding the future of his country and the wider Caribbean region; an optimism rooted in his perception of the potential of Caribbean peoples for survival, creativity and renewal.
Price: $18.00 Canadian
Cheddi Jagan - A New Global Human Order
"A New Global Human Order" is the culmination of Dr. Jagan's lifelong quest to redress the balance between the rich North and the poor South. In the early post-war years and during the Cold War, the crucial issues were political independence for the British, French, Dutch, Belgian and Portuguese colonies and the hegemonic role played by the United States, particularly in Latin America.
The situation is now markedly different with the collapse of the European empires and the end of the Cold War. Today, the injustice lies in the inequitable terms of trade, the debt trap, and concomitantly, the vicious cycle of poverty in which developing countries are caught. "A New Global Human Order" represents Dr. Jagan's response to these pressing issues of our time. It is a compendium of his speeches at regional and international forums, and his correspondences with world leaders and leaders of international financial institutions.
With characteristic astuteness, Dr. Jagan saw an opportunity to redress the balance between the North and the South to the mutual benefit of both. The end of the Cold War has made possible a "peace dividend", which, along with his proposals for pollution taxes and the Tobin Tax to dampen currency speculation, and a work week reduced to thirty-five hours (without loss of pay, to reduce unemployment in the North), will allow the South to be given aid "in the form of debt cancellation, long-term rescheduling of debt, and soft loans and grants," thus adding to their human development potential.
At the heart of the unjust and inhumane international system, fossilized in North Atlantic primacy after the Second World War, are the inter-national terms of trade and the debt trap. Dr. Jagan addressed both by issuing a call for "fair trade", and a balanced approach to debt servicing.
In addition, he pointed out a little known fact that bankers and statesmen are privy to in the West, that the net outflow of capital from South to North is greater than the flow from North to South, as is popularly believed.
While some facts contained in the book invite moral outrage, the ideas advanced to humanize the international system are severely practical and workable. Most importantly, their implementation would benefit both North and South, in terms of suppressing the drug trade, placing less stress on the environment, reducing alienation, unemployment and poverty, and creating a more vibrant, expanded and sound international economic system, based on mutual and enlightened self-interest. And, it is in this latter concept that the genius of these ideas is derived. A better world is created while the North and the South pursue their own interests, in "interdependence, cooperation and partnership".
It is hardly surprising therefore, that there is evidence the idea of a New Global Human Order is gaining momentum. On November 24, 2000 a Resolution on the Role of the United Nations in promoting a New Global Human Order was adopted by consensus. Dr. Jagan’s idea of the establishment of a Regional Integration Fund (RIF) is gaining momentum and receiving broader support not just from CARICOM, but other Latin American countries that are pretty sizeable and have a weight in the whole process. This was clearly seen at the Third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canada, April 20-22, 2001.
In essence, Dr. Jagan has shown us that "human development, as distinct from the means of development, positing human beings at the centre of our deliberations" should be our guiding principle. And by his work and his thought, he has set in motion a series of events, which could well make his lofty ideals a reality. This volume is a fitting tribute to the life, legacy and promise of this great humanitarian.
Price: $12.00 Canadian
Janet Jagan - Unpublished Stories & Poems
A book to commemorate the 1st Death Anniversary of Janet Jagan, compiled and edited by her daughter Nadira. Janet Jagan Unpublished Stories & Poems is a collection of previously unpublished stories, letters and poems written for children, freedom fighters and her family. Some of them tell about her life in the US, her parents, about important events in her early life, times spent with her husband, Dr. Cheddi Jagan. They tell of events, until now unknown to the public, that are important to an understanding of who she was.
Price: $12.00 Canadian
Janet Jagan - The Alligator Ferry Service and Other Stories from Guyana
“The Alligator Ferry Service and other Stories From Guyana” is a 32 page full colour book, collection of stories, written by Janet Jagan, which will delight children all over the world and give them a sense of the magical beauty of Guyana's (South America) landscape and the humanity of its people. You will meet an enterprising alligator who sets up a ferry service, a hummingbird who saves the lives of the mighty Harpy Eagle's babies, a haughty green cat, Rima, a singing sea-bird, an animal fashion show and many, many more interesting animal characters.
Set in Guyana, these stories of brave, ingenious, kindly and sometimes playful animals and children use humour, mystery and excitement to provide a strong framework of positive human values. A new Canadian illustrator, Elizabeth Burke whose illustrations are so real to life that they bring these exotic animals to life for children, illustrates the stories.
Price:$12.00 Canadian
Book Reviews
To place an order please call Nadira Jagan-Brancier at (905) 876-4367. You can also e-mail your requests.
They can also be purchased in Toronto, Canada at the following store: Brancier Jewellers -1015 Bronte St S. Milton Ontario and in Guyana at the Michael Forde Bookstore and the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre.