The present state of Hayti (Saint Domingo) Book

I've been reading a lot about Haiti lately, trying to learn more about this quixotic place. I'd heard that Gold's memoir, Best Nightmare on Earth, provided an especially good look into mid-century life from an expat's perspective, especially when read in tandem with Graham Greene's The Comedians. This is precisely how I tackled them.

Gold's book was excellent and engaging, covering his multiple trips in great detail. He lived in Haiti for a few different stints over a period of several decades, with visits interspersed in between. I would have liked a bit more cohesion about the timeline - it was tough to keep track of where he was in Haiti's history - but perhaps that was part of the point. Haiti never really changes from its roots, and with each return visit, though the violence and strife continued to escalate, the fundamental corruption and difficulties remained constant.

Eerily, one of the suggestions for improving life in Haiti (and specifically in Port-au-Prince) was a massive earthquake that would destroy everything and force the populace to rebuild. Written twenty years before the recent devastation, the suggestion was chilling.