This work is a multi-disciplinary reconstruction and evaluation of the development and mobilisation of political consciousness in Guyana between the legal termination of physical enslavement in 1838 and the very eve of flag-and-anthem independence in 1966. Guyanese transformed themselves from disempowered colonial subjects to citizens of variable levels of awareness and empowerment during those one hundred and twenty-six years of struggle. Numerous organisations, themes, issues and tendencies within the movement receive careful attention in rigorous interrogation through the prisms of class, occupation, race, gender, colour and personality.
