"This book examines the consequences of the famous Anglo-American destroyers-for-bases deal of September 1940, which saw fifty aged US destroyers exchanged for extensive army and navy base sites in Trinidad, Bermuda and Newfoundland as well as smaller sites in British Guiana (Guyana), Antigua, St. Lucia, Jamaica and the Bahamas. While the diplomatic importance of the destroyers for bases deal has been widely acknowledged, few have examined the social impact of these "friendly invasions" on the base colonies themselves. The bases brought economic prosperity and social dislocation, raising nettlesome questions. Would the US impose Jim Crow as it had in the Panama Canal Zone? Were US servicemen subject to local law outside the leased areas? What were the effects of the US bases and how did they compare? Based on extensive archival research in the United States, Great Britain, Trinidad, Bermuda, and Canada, Base Colonies in the Western Hemisphere is the first study to answer these and other questions within a cross-regional comparative framework. The result is a fascinating exploration into race, class and empire."--BOOK JACKET.