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The Cult of the Will is a non-fiction book by Trinidadian historian Gérard Besson published in 2010. The book forges a chronological bridge from mid-18th to mid-20th century, depicts selected stages of Trinidadian history and focusses on the island's political situation and race-related relationships during these times. It was received contentiously in Trinidad.

Contents
The Cult of the Will consists of two parts and an appendixes chapter. Both parts have roughly the same extent. Part 1, entitled François Besson, deals with the history of a Franco-Creole family in Grenada and Trinidad from middle of the 18th until the early 20th century. Part 2, titled Eric Williams, deals with the deals with the socio-strategic approach of the eponymous Trinidadian politician during his time as the first prime minister of the newly independent country. WEITERMACHEN

Publication
The point of departure for The Cult of the Will was a discussion that Besson had with fellow historian Bridget Brereton about the post-colonial image of European plantation owners and businessmen of the 18th and 19th century in Trinidad. Besson ascribed historical research to using a general stereotype of the white planter and his descendants as "perpetrators" and their slaves and their descendants as "victims". He furthermore ascribed historians to assume a collective guilt for descendants of white planters. Besson, who is of franco-creole heritage, decided to research his own family history and that of Eric Williams, with whom he's distantly related. His aim was to shed light on individual motivations for action of the persons researched, and to disprove acting with class specific motives. WEITERMACHEN

Reception
In a review for the Trinidad Express, Trinidadian historian Selwyn Ryan (who himself had published a book on Eric Williams in 2009) called Bessons work "controversial". WEITERMACHEN