Herbert Gold's years-long love affair with the tiny troubled island of Haiti is the basis for this book. Gold begins with his arrival, as a student, in the early fifties and ends with his recent visit in 1991. The forty years of memoirs are brilliantly conveyed. We are treated to a Haitian history lesson through the experiences of this young American who inexplicably falls madly in love with this magical place called Haiti.

The book details Gold's life in Haiti and how it is forever affected by the people, the politics and the culture. Gold, an author, married with two children and not many job prospects decides to seek a fellowship at the Université d'Haiti. (His only previous connection to the country was an encounter in Paris with a Haitian woman who was the young bride of his friend. ) He boards a Panama steamer and heads south to set up a homebase for his family that is to arrive later by plane. While on board he befriends a tall Haitian, Jean Weiner, who eventually becomes a life long friend. Mr. Weiner encourages Gold to return to America and give up his idealistic naive idea to settle in Haiti. He says, " Ah Herb, go back home while you can!"..."You think you're ready, My dear friend you are not ready!" As a reader, you are thankful that Herbert Gold did not heed Jean Weiner's advice.

As Gold travels throughout the country he speaks of mango trees, beating drums and the constant smell of charcoal smoke. He takes us to voodoo ceremonies and into homes made of straw and mud, whose owners offer all they have to the pale skinned stranger. In this way he expresses to the world the Haitian hospitality and pride that is so unique and yet quite familiar to those who have visited there.

Arriving in the fifties, Gold was fortunate to mingle with the up and coming Haitian artists. He travels with DeWitt Peters (founder and director of the Centre d'Art) and visits Prefète Duffault, Jasmin Joseph and Wilson Bigaud. These first generation painters played a pivotal role in the renaissance of Haitian art that resulted in the popularity and interest in Haitian art to this day.

During Gold's second visit in 1963, we see the country changing. Papa Doc (Duvalier) is in charge and fear rules the countryside. Gold comes face to face with the army of "tonton macoutes" who robbed, tortured and murdered at will. The wealthy elite become wealthier and the poor who foolishly listened to their leaders, become poorer. We struggle with the author as he watches his beloved adopted country suffering.

Gold is eventually expelled for his anti Duvalier journalism, though he returns in late 1971 after Duvalier's (Papa Doc) death. The new regime attempts to initiate interest in tourism by encouraging the docking of cruise ships and opening a Club Med. German and American companies established businesses in Haiti hoping to benefit from the cheap labor. Gold is delighted that there appears to be hope for the ravaged country, but he is soon disillusioned and realizes that nothing has changed only the names of those in power.

During subsequent visits in 1983, 1986, and 1990, Herbert Gold continues to paint pictures of Haiti that bring tears to your eyes, smiles to your lips and pleasure to your soul. He expertly describes the joys and the pains of his new friends and his new country. From the cloud covered mountain top town of Kenscoff to the beaches of Jacmel, Herbert Gold finds people whose stories will tug at your heart and cause you to ask, what is so different about this tiny nation that grips it's visitors and beckons them back?

Give yourself a treat, read "The Best Nightmare On Earth". Travel with Gold as he dines with Graham Greene (author of "The Comedians") battles malaria and comes face to face with the dreaded ton-ton macoutes. Allow yourself to share in his stories of the poverty, the cock fights and the warm friendly people. A Haitian proverb states, "The little fellow does what he can; the big fellow does what he wants." Herbert Gold brilliantly tells the story of the many hundreds of "little fellows" in Haiti and causes us to wonder why we allow the "big fellow" to do what he wants.