the Haitian diaspora in the UnitedStates. To date, virtually all studies of
Haitian Americans have been about a few urban areas, particularly New
York and Miami, rather than Haitian Americansfrom a national per-
spective. Given the high concentration of Haitian Americans alongthe
urbanized Atlantic seaboard, these geographically limited studiesare
major pieces of the diaspora mural but do not depict the entire mosaic.
The individual and larger tiles are valuable but a largercontext, the en-
tire diaspora, is important although virtually ignored byscholars. Chap-
ter 8 uses the most recent U.S. census, which has neverbeen used before
in a book about Haitian Americans. The penultimate chapter,which
completes the circle and is transnational, links HaitianAmericans to
Haitians through remittances. Many believe Haiti would collapse imme-
diately if money was not flowing from Haitian Americans toHaitians.
The final chapter examines what is most important to mostHaitians:
their near-term economic future. This future is not onlyimportant to
Haitians, Haitian Americans, and Haiti'spolicy makers, it is also impor-
tant to U.S. foreign and domestic policies.

Throughout the book the emphasis is on people: Haitians andHaitian
Americans. What are their roots? What uproots the vast majorityfrom
their rural domiciles? Where do they go? What can be done toallow
Haitians to stay where they want to be, home in their ownrepublic? Who
do they become after arriving in the UnitedStates? Do they reconnect
with those they left at home via remittances despite anunfavorable U.S.
immigration policy? The circle is complete, from the majority ofHaitians
who are poor, rural, and agriculture based, through Haiti's environmen-
tal degradation, to their new lives as Haitian Americans andtheir
transnational linkages back to Haitians.

I hope this book helps Haitians realize their dreams ofleading a full life
in Haiti rather than in a foreign country.This hope is captured in a recent
novel by a Haitian American who moved to the UnitedStates from Haiti
as an adolescent. The author describes the misfortune Haitiansfaced in
the Dominican Republic sixty years earlier.The novel's major character,
Amabelle Dèir, barely avoids being murdered, as were 30,000to 40,000
Haitians, and is home in Cap-Haitien. She dreams about what the future
for Haitians ought to be:

I imagined them going forward in their lives,
cultivating their gardens,
taking their animals to the stream,
skipping out of the road to avoid speeding trucks,
calling their children in for an evening wash,
making love to the people they'd been reunited with. ³

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