The CIA Targets of Jamaica Bob Marley and the Progressive Manley Government
Signed by the author on inside cover. A little wear on cover
"Jamaica, 1976. Bob Marley sings revolution. The democratic socialist government of Michael Manley leans closer to Fidel Castro, angering Washington. Many believe the CIA is on the island stirring things up, whipping election-year violence into tribal war. Scott Gallagher lived through it but four years later, a 20-year-old residing in Santa Barbara, he remembers little… his girlfriend Marva, hanging with Marley at Hope Road... beyond that it’s “Lost Time.” As if Obeah—Jamaican black magic—has “fixed his business.” Was his father CIA chief of station in Kingston? What caused the bad blood between them? Why would the CIA be in Jamaica anyway? An emotional trauma brings him to psychologist Phil Mitchell, who pushes Scott to relive the fateful year and uncover the truth that will either set them both free or be their undoing. Stir It Up sets into stark relief the historical backdrop of its times. The Vietnam War has finally ended the year before. Henry Kissinger, survivor of the disgraced Nixon “Watergate” Administration, continues as Secretary of State under President Ford. Operation Condor is in full swing with the spread of brutal military dictatorships throughout Latin America. Tiny Jamaica becomes a microcosm in which the great political issues of the day come into play. The novel is also— --a tribute to Bob Marley as the “Voice of the Third World” --a rousing tour through the colorful Kingston scene in the “Golden Age of Reggae,” featuring the great Rasta musicians from the ghettos --a warm snapshot of Jamaican culture --an account of the leader of a poor Third World country standing against American power at the dawning of the New World Order of neoliberal economics --a sympathetic portrait of Jamaican First Lady Beverley Manley --the story of a young lad’s coming of age as he faces the terrors and mysteries of his past with a psychologist who has lost his way"
