This is an examination of political interactions between elite Haitians and elite US African Americans that deploys the dual theoretical lens of Pan-Americanism and Afro-Modernity to explore the complexity of political and cultural relations. The concept of Pan-Americanism is complicated through recognition of the differing conceptions of Pan-Americanism that came into play, including US-centered (hegemonic) Pan Americanism, Simon Bolivar's white-privileged Pan-Americanism, or the black Pan Americanism that often (but not always) has characterized US black-Haitian relations. The theoretical concept of Afro-Modernity refers to the ways in which the two groups frequently employed Western notions of modern development while simultaneously seeking to challenge Western discourses concerning African-descended people. Author Polyné (New York U.) focuses on six relationships in particular: Frederick Douglass's shifting position towards US imperial intervention in Santo Domingo and Haiti; the 1830 efforts of Robert R. Morton, president of the Tuskegee Institute, to reform the Haitian educational system under the auspices of the US-hegemonic Good Neighbor Policy; the role of Claude Barnett and US black business interests in promoting the capitalist development of Haiti; the late 1940/50s efforts by NAACP head Walter White to increase tourism to Haiti while still challenging US hegemony of Haitian affairs; the mid-20th century engagement between US black choreographers and efforts to discipline and "theatricalize" Haitian folkloric dance; and the decline in US African American and Haitian relations in response to the Duvalier dictatorship. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)