Richard M. Escalante Libri

Air is the new domain of war.Britain seeks to control it through technology.One of those technologies is aviation fuel. In 1936, the Shell Oil Corporation in America discovers a process to economically produce the fuel additive called 100-octane. The additive is capable of improving the performance of aviation fuel used in fighter aircraft.Across the Atlantic, Nazi Germany under Hitler begins to expand its borders across Europe. But to do so, Hitler needs fuel, especially high-octane aviation fuel. For Hitler, the air domain provides flexibility for his newest military strategy: blitzkrieg or "lightning war".As war with Germany looms on the horizon, Britain knows that control of the air domain is vital for its defense if it is to combat the long reach of the Third Reich. But much needed supplies of aviation fuel for its fighter aircraft come from outside the Empire and are in danger of being stopped. Britain must now turn to a politically-tensed oil colony within its Empire to supply them in their most desperate hour. That colony is Trinidad.This well-researched book gives a geopolitical perspective on how the British colony of Trinidad became a key producer of aviation fuel for Britain's RAF fighters and a pawn of the British Empire in the high-stakes game known as World War Two.

It is May 1941. The Second World War has not yet reached the Caribbean. But America deploys 25,000 troops to the British colony of Trinidad. Within a year, it becomes 82,000 soldiers. Soon the war erupts into an Eroticized War in the colony. Anyone who remembers the calypsoes of the period, as well as the 'American Occupation' of the island would recognize the extent prostitution and venereal disease now ran rampant throughout the colony. Alongside this Eroticized War, another war is being waged on the island. This is a Secret War. It is a cat-and-mouse game of espionage between spies from the German Abwehr (military intelligence), and the combined British MI5 agents and local militarized police. But as the residents come to terms with the rapid changes in their society, the colonial authorities are unawares that the German Abwehr has planned a major naval offensive in the Caribbean. German U-boats are on their way and Trinidad is in their cross-hairs. Is Trinidad society prepared for this assault? Are its defences able stop this naval offensive? Historian Richard Escalante explores the key events and issues confronting Trinidad society in the lead up to the fateful attack.

This prequel to the History of Colonial Radio in Trinidad trilogy describes how the global interplay of science, private business, and British imperialism dictated the development of telegraphy in Trinidad and, later, Tobago, and led to the passage of local telegraphy ordinances. The book also documents for the first time, four key cases highlighting how telegraphy played an important role in crises affecting the colony.