This is a stout book about Queens Royal College (QRC), arguably the best-known secondary boys’ school in Trinidad and Tobago. This book, a tremendous labour of love for the Commemorative Committee and editor Alleyne, is obviously a collector’s item for all loyal QRC old boys, and there are thousands of them living in Trinidad and Tobago. The year 2004 placed immediately after QRC in the title calls the attention of the reader to the centenary of the Main Building of the college, which was finished in 1904, some 34 years after the college started.

Since 1981 this book has admirably filled the need of researchers and the public at large for a general history of Trinidad (and Tobago). Prior to its publication the main text which served a similar purpose was Eric Williams' History of the People of Trinidad and Tobago (1962), the necessary testament of a Prime Minister/historian on the eve of his country's independence. Brereton has written a superior work, with less passion and more objectivity, less haste and more accuracy, less imbalance in the treatment of historical periods and more successful organisation.

Queens Royal College is a well known institution in Trinidad. This College came into existence in 1870 as a replacement for Queens Collegiate School, founded in 1859. This latter school was founded by the government with the social and political purpose of spreading English culture in an island racially and religiously divided, and culturally complex. A bridge to the English Universities was established through scholarships which were later won by many eminent Trinidadians.