The creation of the banana empire, 1900-1930 -- The empire challenged, 1930-74 -- The end of splendid isolation, 1974-93 -- Peasant farmer societies : commonwealth Caribbean bananas -- Belize, Suriname, and the French West Indies : on the margins of the Caribbean -- The single European market and the Western Hemisphere’s Banana industries -- Neocolonialism encounters the free trade imperative -- The World Trade Organization and the banana trade -- The U.S.-EU banana war heats up -- Pursuit of an elusive goal -- Implications for the future.