Virgin Islands' Blundering, Violent, Colorful History

Has anyone out there read A History of the Virgin Islands of the United States? I bought the book yesterday, and it's quite interesting. It's by the late Dr. Isaac Dookhan and was first published in 1970. It covers Danish colonization, the slave trade, plantation life, piracy, the American years, and more.

On a certain level, it's quite funny because nearly all the things we complain about here have been going on for centuries: low wages, high prices, the lack of choice in goods, unreliable workers, non-working telegraphs (read Innovative), massive government bureaucracy and incompetence, the general backwardness, Island Time, the lax economy, government boondoggles costing millions, failed public policies. . . . I predict that all these things will still be here centuries after we're all gone.

I was particularly struck by some sections on slavery. The Danes were apparently paranoid about slave uprisings and could be absolutely ruthless in quashing rebellions. In a failed uprising on St. Croix in 1759, police caught and jailed one of the leaders. After he committed suicide, police dragged his body through the streets, then suspended it and burnt it at the stake. Thirteen others were executed: two broken on the wheel, four burnt alive, four pierced with hot tongs and hanged, and three gibbeted (killed and put on public display in galleons as a warning).

This must have left deep memories, because the slaves didn't demand and get their freedom for nearly another 100 years.