Lakeland, Fla., June 26, 2007 - A transplanted Jamaican journalist, who has spent half a century in Caribbean and North American newspapers, has written a book that is expected to trigger political controversy in his native island.

A founding editor of The Jamaica Daily News, George Graham evoked furore - and even threats on his life - with a 1970s column deploring the political and cultural path that the "barefoot island" was taking.

"A plague on both your houses," the column stated. "I am voting with my feet."

True to this promise to emigrate, Graham left for Toronto within weeks. He has since held various editorial positions in Ontario and Florida, retiring from The tampa Tribune in 2006.

More than 30 years after Graham's Daily News column, Jamaican journalist Jean-Lowrie Chin recently recalled his comments, and declared that the island's "sufferer mentality" still had not improved.

In his book, Graham describes the development of an unnamed Caribbean island similar to Jamaica. He makes fun of the "Good Ol' Boy" style of politics inherited from the island's Colonial government, but shows the island blossoming into independence under caring leadership.

One of the book's startling claims is that the island is able to achieve economic success and political stability without taking advantage of such get-rich-quick initiatives as bauxite mining and petroleum-fueled electrical generation.

"I honestly believe Jamaica would have been better served to protect its environment and concentrate on earth-friendly  development,"  said Graham,  who worked for the Jamaica Industrial development Corporation during the 1960s.

The book is titled "Hill-an'-Gully Rider" and is published by Lulu.com. It is available on the web in both hard cover and paperback versions.

Contact: George Graham
(863) 816-1535
gwgraeme@yahoo.com