LOOKING BACK.........: The Struggle To Preserve Our Freedoms

In this riveting autobiography, former journalist/author, Joan Williams shares numerous dangerous and transfixing experiences that occurred during her participation in the “undeclared” civil war which wreaked havoc in her country, Jamaica, between 1977-1980. This conflict resulted from the determination of most of the island’s citizens, to prevent socialism/communism from taking over their country during the cold war era. During that period, the island was "invaded" by operatives from the Russian KGB, Cuban DGI, and American CIA, all assisting the side they favored and arming the combatants. Chronicling her own political activism and fight during that period, Williams, then a young mother, adopted a slogan from the late civil rights activist Martin Luther King that “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter,” as her mantra. This caused her to make heart-wrenching sacrifices to keep her small island out of the clutches of the communists. The most devastating sacrifice she said she had to make, was having to send her children away out of harm’s way. With the current alarming developments in Venezuela which include shortages of basic goods, government-sanctioned violence, threats to press freedom and the liberty, continuously being on the front pages, "Looking Back" is especially relevant as many of the political happenings there mirror what is outlined as having occurred in Jamaica during their cold war era. This book will also provide a guide to Americans who are not aware of what “socialism” really is about. However, reflecting on where her country is today, Williams at times questioned whether the efforts they made and the dangers they withstood to keep the communists at bay, were worth the effort? Then, in 2014, she took her fourth trip to Cuba, this time it was to meet family which she had recently discovered lived there. Seeing the depressing conditions, lack of hope etc. which she found there, she answers her own question with a definitive “YES.” In the heart-wrenching chap