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In this moment of transition for the New West Indian Guide (as it becomes a publication of Brill), it may be appropriate to look back on the history of the book review section as well as forward to plans for its expansion. Founded in 1919 as the Nieuwe West-Indische Gids, the NWIG published book reviews only sporadically, and almost always in Dutch, for its first six-plus decades. As part of its revitalization in 1982 it became an exclusively English-language publication and a book review editor was appointed, charged with finding reviewers for Caribbean books published in all languages. Sally Price served in this capacity during the first five years, producing an average of 36 reviews (plus some 3 review articles) annually. After Rolph Trouillot succeeded her, the annual number declined to 21 (with almost no review articles). Then, in the early 1990s the team of Rich and Sally took over and began publishing about 60 reviews and 6 review articles per year, with the rate stabilizing for more than a decade at some 52 reviews plus 4 or 5 review articles annually. We are pleased to announce that with the current issue, we move up to a steady offering of 100 reviews a year (fifty reviews plus 1 to 3 review articles in each issue). The annual "Bookshelf " section, inaugurated in 1993, will continue to offer brief discussion of books on Caribbean subjects that aren't receiving full reviews. (Some of those books that would once have been included in "Bookshelf " will henceforth be treated to full reviews under the new plan.)
Where, one might ask, are all these new books coming from? The answer is paradoxical. Academic publishers, both in the United States and Europe, are complaining to anyone who will listen that sales of scholarly books have fallen precipitously. Print runs have been shrinking for years, as library sales dry up. Yet more and more titles are getting published, usually by traditional means, but often now also as ebooks or by print-on-demand. And new monograph series dedicated to the Caribbean continue to sprout: Rutgers University Press's Caribbean Critical Studies and Brill's Caribbean Series are just the latest examples to come to our attention. So, for the short term, at least, we have...