Mary Renda's Taking Haiti is not merely a recount of the U.S. occupation in Haiti; it delves deeply into the effects before, during and after the occupation. Renda illuminates the underlying agendas and intentions of the U.S during this occupation. The entirety of this book shows how every issue-- whether that issue be family, gender, or race-- is centered around the institution of paternalism.

Ostensibly, the U.S is the quintessential of a perfect government and has been flaunting this position for hundreds of years. When occupying Haiti, there was an elitist mindset among the leaders that quickly snuck into the minds of their followers. It was evident that the stated intentions of the U.S. to "help" Haiti was only a means to control Haiti. U.S. saw themselves as a father helping his errant child. Every helping hand that America extends to foreign countries comes with an underlying message: "We are superior; you are inferior."

One thing that struck  me was the parallels that I could draw from then to now. Many of the tactics that was used in Haiti then are also used in America now. Renda mentions the way that the marine corps began to section Haiti. This sectioning into different zones began to identify the areas of the rebels. That reminded me of ghettos here in America. The sectioning off of the "undesirables" in order to better identify them as other.

The reason why this book was intriguing to me was mainly due to the sources in which Renda decided to use. The main source of her information was from the personal journals and letters written by people inside the occupation. Unlike Freedom Papers by Rebecca Scott, the history is undeniably accurate; so, we can confidently follow Renda in her analysis of the U.S. occupation of Haiti.