Jenny m. jemmott ties that bind is a significant contribution to the historiography of the “black family” in postslavery jamaica. it breaks new ground by focusing on the period from the abolition of slavery in 1834 to the final years of pure crown colony government in 1882, when “the legislative effort to shape the ‘morality’ of the black family reached its apex” (p. 11), and by drawing on correspondence between the colonial office and the colony’s governors. from these previously neglected perspectives, jemmott shifts the focus from slavery to the opening decades of freedom and shows the strength of the black family at this time in contrast to proslavery writers, the legislature, and early sociologists and anthropologists who viewed the black family as “disorganized.” chapter 1 focuses on familial values and relationships, including consan- guineous ties and informal conjugal unions (rather than the european nuclear family),contendingthatthesearewestafricanlegacies.chapter2underscores black activism, including “family advocacy” pursued through the courts and by self-helpandcooperativeschemes.chapter3documentseffortstoreunitefam- ily members separated in enslavement. chapter 4 shows that the colonial state, churches, and elites aimed to educate the children of the formerly enslaved to become agricultural laborers with eurocentric values, though black parents resisted this social control. chapter 5 reveals the impact of the suppression following the 1865 morant bay rebellion on the black family, which however survived. chapter 6 discusses legislation idealizing the eurocentric victorian family and shows how black familial culture nevertheless endured. the con- clusion reiterates that black family activism within a strong familial culture derived from west africa helped to end apprenticeship and shape freedom. the book is impressive, but it could have been strengthened in four inter- related ways. first, it could have engaged anthropological studies that demon- strate the strength of the black family in the caribbean and jamaica from slav- ery to the twenty-first century, as explored, for example, in work by karen fog olwig and myself.1 this would not only have reinforced jemmott’s conclusions on strong kinship ties in postslavery jamaica, but would also have revealed that the reconstruction of the black family began during enslavement, rather than after the abolition of slavery in 1834 as she contends