The Essential Benedict Wight and other writings by Owen Baptiste is a political history of Trinidad and Tobago in the tumultuous years after its Independence on 31 August 1962. A no-holds barred newspaper column, Benedict Wight grew out of the turbulence of black power politics and the efforts of governments to stop the tide of racial conflicts. Says Baptiste: "My plan for Benedict Wight was to create a newspaper personality that was informed, wise and courageous. That was the reason for the frequent references to writers like Shaw, Camus and Nietzsche. I wanted Trinidadians and Tobagonians...