LEFT: Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
Author Dr. Rebecca Tortello-Greenland (left) signs a copy of her new book, 'Pieces of the Past', for Professor Verene Shepherd at Queens Way, on Sunday, April 1.
RIGHT: The book, 'Pieces of the Past'.

Title: Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica's Memory Lane
Author: Rebecca Tortello-Greenland
Publishers: Kingston and Miami: Ian Randle Publishers, 2007. 280 pages
Reviewed by: Mary Hanna

This book opens your eyes to things you never knew about Jamaica. It is a welcome move to broadening the horizons of the Jamaican people and deepening their understanding of their own history.
- Edward Seaga

Rebecca Tortello's Pieces of the Past is a superb compilation of about 70 articles from her Gleaner series organised according to eight themes: 'Places'; 'People'; 'Cultural Heritage';' A Nation Emerges'; 'Trials: Natural and Manmade'; 'Jamaicans Who Served'; 'Famous Visitors'; and 'Things Jamaican'.

Bold, beautiful, and brilliantly informative, these articles are enhanced with photographs that often look like historical engravings and serve to elucidate the text, itself presented in columns like a newspaper. Tortello has met her own high standards with this collection. It is a gift to the reader who seeks the pleasure of browsing through historical treasures, well presented and lucidly written.

This text has the look of a coffee table book and the clout of an encyclopaedia. In the words of Oliver Clarke, chairman and managing director of The Gleaner Company Limited: "From the tale of the fall of Tom Cringle's cotton tree, to the evolution of our currency, to Jonkunnu parades and notable local scientists, the Jamaican experience is emphasised in its historical context. The book benefits from its origins as a serialised feature in The Gleaner. The writing style is as engaging as the many events, persons and places it depicts. In fact, as The Gleaner continues to publish the serial locally and online, it will expose readers across the island, and indeed anywhere The Gleaner is read, to the artistic richness of the author's work."

The series Pieces of the Past was the brainchild of Oliver Clarke. He encouraged Tortello to try her hand at writing the articles at a time when she was still a doctoral student nearing the completion of her dissertation (2001). The series proved popular, both at home and abroad, and achieved its aim: sparking readers' curiosity about how Jamaica came to be the place it is today. In her introduction, Tortello points out that the stories can be read in any order of interest, an intentional device since many historians have dispensed with the notion of linear history, "preferring to examine the notion of 'histories' through the many interlocking, interweaving and competing narratives." Tortello asserts that reading history this way is a choice that suits many readers, and indeed, her text makes for fascinating engagement with highpoints (like Jamaica Festival) and intriguing characters (like Sir Henry Morgan) and places (like Falmouth and Spanish Town) in Jamaica's 500 years of history.

The People Who Came

My favourite section is 'The People Who Came'. This collection of articles examines the arrival of all the different immigrant groups. Tortello gives vivid details of the historical arrival of the Africans into the New World, followed by pieces on the English, Scots and Welsh; the Jews in Jamaica; the Chinese; the Indians; the Lebanese; the Germans; and the Irish. She has done careful research of documents and interviewed members of the community where possible, to lend depth and personal interest to these tales of the historical movement of the peoples who make up the tapestry of Jamaica.

Tortello's visual images include photographs of informative book covers, buildings and street scenes, as well as portraits of representatives of each group. It makes for a rich reading experience, with photographs provided, courtesy of The Gleaner Company, as well as private families. The selection is wide and profoundly moving, and this section adds the spice of personal to historical memory.

Tortello's notes are included in the final column of her articles. They are invariably cogent and riveting. For example, at the end of 'The Africans', she provides this thumbnail information: "Over 11,000 free Africans arrived in Jamaica between 1837 and 1867 as indentured labourers to work on the sugar estates and fill the void left by thenewly freed slaves. Most were from Central Africa, the Yoruba and Dahomey Coasts and the Niger Delta, but some came from Cuba and from ships owned by nations still participating in the slave trade. Many were therefore sent to Sierra Leone and/or the southern mid-Atlantic island of St. Helena before coming to Jamaica. Denied the opportunity of repatriation, most settled on the island in the parishes of Westmoreland, Hanover and St. Thomas (Senior, 2003, The Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage)."

Tortello provides clear and concise notation of her sources so that her articles have a scholarly flair and are founded on facts derived from additional reading offered to the reader gratis. The articles are academic only in that they are thoroughly researched. Their flavour is that of intelligent conversation and they often come with maps, as necessary to the understanding of the text.

Stories reporting on Cultural Heritage form another of my favourite sections. Tortello researches old-time Christmas and weddings, the Ward Theatre and historic Devon House. She does a fascinating piece on Jamaican proverbs and delves into the mystery of Anancy, the magical Spiderman. Her selection of topics is always deft and appealing.

She chooses to inform her readers of Gibraltar Camp: A Refuge From War, telling the story of the pre-University habitation of the Mona campus by soldiers and visiting Italians and Germans who were encamped there during World War II. She tells the fascinating story of 'The History of Printing in Jamaica', which includes the origins of The Gleaner itself in the 1830s. Tortello's articles are factual and accurate, and her style is a pleasure to read.

Rebecca Tortello has a PhD in comparative education and sociology from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a former teacher and the author of a children's picture book, Nancy and Grandy Nanny (2001). She is a lecturer at the University of the West Indies in the Department of Education Studies, and a consultant on numerous educational projects in Jamaica and internationally.