Modern Politics

Description

Modern Politics was originally delivered in 1960 as a series of lectures in Trinidad. Both in his lectures and in the text, James's wide-ranging erudition and enduring relevance are powerfully displayed. He analyses revolutionary history and the role of literature, art and culture in society. He also interrogates the ideas and philosophy of such thinkers as Rousseau, Lenin and Trotsky, making this is a magnificent tour de force from a critically-engaged thinker at the height of his powers. An essential introduction to his body of work.

C. L. R. James was a historian and political activist who was considered a major figure in Pan-Africanism and a leader in developing a democratic, revolutionary, and internationalist current within Marxism. He is the author of The Black Jacobins, A History of Pan-African Revolt, A New Notion: Two Works by C. L. R. James, Sex, Race and Class--The Perspective of Winning, and You Don't Play with Revolution. Noel Ignatiev is a historian and history professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He is the author of How the Irish Became White and the cofounder and coeditor of the journal Race Traitor. He lives in Boston.

"When one looks back over the last twenty years to those men who were most far-sighted, who first began to tease out the muddle of ideology in our times, who were at the same time Marxists with a hard theoretical basis, and close students of society, humanists with a tremendous response to and understanding of human culture, Comrade James is one of the first one thinks of." --E.P. Thompson "C.L.R. James is one of those rare individuals whom history proves right." --Race Today "C.L.R. James has arguably had a greater influence on the underlying thinking of independence movements in the West Indies and Africa than any living man." --Sunday Times "It remains remarkable how far ahead of his time he was on so many issues." --New Society "C.L.R. James has a special place in the history of Third World revolutionary movements. He combines Caribbean nationalism, Black radicalism, a once Trotskyist blend of revolutionary anti-imperialism, and the European classic tradition in an individual and potent mix. A mine of richness and variety." --Times Educational Supplement