Renato Beluche played many roles in the turbulent world of the nineteenth-century Caribbean. He was a merchant sea captain as well as a successful Privateer. He was Simón Bolívar's favorite admiral as well as an active partner in the affairs of the Laffite brothers. He fought both as a revolutionary and as a defender against revolt. He was a patriot in the eyes of eight American nations and a brigand in the eyes of England and France. In tracing the course of Beluche's chameleonlike career, this biography by Jane Lucas De Grummond gives us a panoramic view of the complex affairs of the Caribbean during one of the most volatile periods in its history. Renato Beluche is the product of the more than forty years that De Grummond has devoted to the history of the United States, the Louisiana Gulf Coast, and Latin America. It draws together her knowledge not only of Beluche's exploits but also of the wars, revolutions, and treacherous allegiances that shaped the development of the Caribbean.

Jane Lucas De Grummond is professor emerita of history at Louisiana State University. She is the author of Envoy to Caracas, The Baratarians and the Battle of New Orleans, and (with Beulah de Veriere Smith Watts) Solitude: Life on a Plantation in Louisiana, 1788--1968, and the editor of Caracas Diary, 1835--1840: The Journal of John G.A. Williamson, First Diplomatic Representative of the United States to Venezuela.

ISBN: 9780807124598

Paperback

320 pages

Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Maps, Table of Contents

6 x 9

LSU Press, 1999