"...I know little of England, but the United States are pretty familiar to me; the two climates, I imagine, cannot be very dissimilar. That a man should wear himself to the bone in the acquisition of material gain is not pretty. But what else can he do in lands adapted only for wolves and bears? Without a degree of comfort which would be superfluous hereabouts, he would feel humiliated. He must become strenuous if he wishes to rise superior to his inhospitable surroundings."

"We think a good deal of strenuousness," objected the Bishop.

"Have you not noticed that whenever anything, however fantastic, is imposed upon men by physical forces, they straightway make a god of it?...The Eskimo doubtless deifies seal-blubber; he could not survive without it. ......We have only a certain amount of energy at our disposal. It is not seemly to consume every ounce of it in a contest with brute nature....

"Tell me, sir, how shall the mind be elevated if the body be exhausted with material preoccupations? Consider the complex conditions under which a Northern family is obliged to live. Think of the labour expended upon that unceasing duel with the elements--the extra clothing and footwear and mufflers and mantles, the carpets, the rugs, the abundant and costly food required to keep the body in sound working condition, the plumbing, the gas, the woodwork, the paintings and repaintings, the tons of fuel, the lighting in winter, the contrivances against frost and rain, the neverending repairs to houses, the daily polishings and dustings and scrubbings and those thousand other impediments to the life of the spirit! Half of them are nonexistent in these latitudes; half the vitality expended on them could be directed to other ends. ...

"Living in our lands, men would have liesure to cultivate nobler aspects of their nature. They would be accessible to purer aspirations, worthier delights. They would enjoy the happiness of sages. What other happiness deserves the name? In the [..Tropics...] lies the hope of humanity."

Norman Douglas, SOUTH WIND, Dodd,Mead, NY, 1918;

That was how Norman Douglas celebrated the tropics, that belt around the earth bisected by the equator and more-or-less between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Nowadays he might regale us with needing oil, which is itself a product of archaic tropics, but the point is much the same.

But the tropics contain a great variety of climate and topography, some of them more comfortable for natives of the temperate zones than others. The most delightful of the tropical climates are found on islands, and a number of these islands are found in the chain that bounds the Caribbean Sea. Of these islands the most inviting are the "green" islands whose volcanos maintain rain forests, and of those, in my very biased opinion, the very best is the island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

It is the purpose of this Book/CD/Website to celebrate Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and its role in world history.

If you are not already familiar with this book or with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines you may want to go to the Preface to read about how and why the book was prepared.

Page 001 Preface
Page 002 Preface Page 2
Page 003 Preface Page 3
Page 004 Preface Page 4
Page 005 Preface Page 5

The mechanism by which it is being published is pretty much unique to our time and place. If that makes it obsolete in a few years or, for that matter, months, it can't be helped. It is captive to the technology.

A book about a place (often called a "Travel" book although what it describes is often stationary), unless it is familiar both to the author and the reader, requires extended descriptions of the appearance of places and things. This created a genre in publishing, and writers skilled in those descriptions. In the 20th century those descriptions were supplemented with a few small blurry photographs or, in the case of books intended to be displayed on a sitting room table, a number of large, sharp, colorful and expensive photographs.

In the 21st century, if you are willing to give up the substantial feel of a bound book, you can have as many color photographs as you like. The book is being published as a Website (a location on the internet) using hypertext markup language (HTM or html) so that it can be read on your desk or laptop computer using your internet browser. It should be readable on any reasonably modern Macintosh or "PC" computer. This method of publishing allows an individual to publish a book, even an illustrated book, with limited resources (except, perhaps, time).

Here and there are quotations from the web. If they do not have a source URL listed it is just my carelessness and you should assume those are copyright by their authors and quoted under the doctrine of "fair use". The remaining text and photographs not otherwise credited are copyright by Karl Eklund. I suspect that they will be distributed under the "Creative Commons" type of open copyright, but I haven't worked out the details yet. In the meantime they should be assumed to be under ordinary copyright.

A slightly different version of this material has been located on the internet at [http://svg.karleklund.net]. If you are reading this that version has been replaced by the version that constitutes the book you are reading. It has the same address [URL] but a different location.

If you are familiar with this book you can click on "Home" here or the top and bottom of any page. The other options will move you back or forward one page. Use your browser buttons as appropriate. I really hope you enjoy this experiment in publishing, both in terms of the mechanism and the content. Feel free to send comments to: SVG@karleklund.net

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