The author of this terrific travel narrative recalls the posters of Bob Marley stuck on his bedroom wall as a teenager in snowy New England, and in his dorm room as a student, where he developed a conviction “that it was in the Caribbean that many of the salient characteristics of the Americas at large – traumatic histories of colonialism and genocide and slavery; migration and creolisations as facts of life; the persistent sense of cosmopolitan possibility and newness inherent to a New World – were brought into starkest relief”.

Chronicling his travels through the Caribbean, this is also a magnificent musical journey (reggae, salsa and ska), a literary odyssey (CLR James, Jean Rhys, VS Naipaul), and a heartfelt historical voyage throughout which he asks a question “still at the core of our politics now: How universal, really, are universal rights?” Island People powerfully shows how places shape people, and how people shape places.

• Island People by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro is published by Canongate (£22). To order a copy for £18.70 go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99