Blue-green waters, warm beaches in winter, reefs full of colorful fish. The Caribbean is a prime tourist destination, but it's also home to a lot of people -- including, just possibly, the residents of our fifty- first state. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, cruise with us to the Caribbean for an earful of dance hall reggae and Puerto Rican politics.

For the first time, Congress is seriously considering a bill that would allow Puerto Ricans to vote on statehood. Novelist Rosario Ferre tells Jim Fleming why many Puerto Ricans are unhappy with their island's current status as a Commonwealth. Ferre's new novel is Eccentric Neighborhoods.

The Caribbean island of Martinique had a long history of French colonialism. Now, it functions as if it were a part of Europe. Anthropologist Richard Price, author of The Convict and the Colonel, tells Judith Strasser that Martinique suffers from a "postcarding" of history. Also, writer Jamaica Kincaid tells the story of her brother's death from AIDS on the impoverished island of Antigua. Kincaid is the author of My Brother.

For many Americans and Europeans, reggae means Bob Marley. It's no accident. He was packaged for the international market back in the '60s and '70s. Sociologist Anita Waters tells Judith Strasser about the current reggae scene in Jamaica. Waters is the author of Race, Class and Political Symbols: Rastafari and Reggae in Jamaican Politics.

Distribution dates:

• week of 05/10/98 - hour 1