This study of C.L.R. James's writings is the first to look at them as literature and not as theory. This sustained analysis of his major published works places them in a context of his less well-known writings and offers an encompassing critique of one of the African diaspora's most significant thinkers and writers. Here the author of Black Jacobins, World Revolution, A History of Pan-African Revolt, Notes on Dialectics, Beyond a Boundary, and the lyric novel Minty Alley is seen not only as among the great political philosophers but also as the literary artist that he remained, from his first writings in his native Trinidad to his final essays and speeches in London. The writings of James have inspired revolutionaries on three continents. They have altered the course of historiography, shown the way toward independent black political struggles, and established a base for much of today's study of culture.