This work is a very important contribution to the understanding of the language and linguistic heritage of Afro-Americans, this last term being used by Alleyne to refer to all people of African descent in the Western Hemisphere. In relation to those Afro-American language varieties spoken in the Caribbean, on which this book has tended to focus, this is one of only a very small number of book-length works produced so far. The bulk of the work on Afro-Caribbean language varieties is dispersed all over the place, usually in the form of articles in academic journals. This gives added importance to this book by Alleyne. Comparative Afro-American will become, and quite rightly so, necessary reading for all those in the region who are students, both in the formal and informal sense, of Caribbean language. It is from the point of view of the Caribbean student studying the language of his/her region that this review will be undertaken. I will be attempting to assess this work by Alleyne for the integrity, intellectual rigour, accuracy and vision which we as Caribbean people expect in the work of one of our number discussing something as important to us as our language behaviour.