Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction: in search of a national identity : C.L.R. James and the promise of the Caribbean / by David Austin -- pt. 1. Public lectures -- The making of the Caribbean people -- The Haitian revolution in the making of the modern world -- Shakespeare's King Lear -- pt. 2. Private lectures -- Existentialism and marxism -- Rousseau and the idea of the general will -- Marx's The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte and the Caribbean -- Marx's Capital, the working-day, and capitalist production -- Lenin and the trade union debate in Russia -- pt. 3. Interviews -- On literature, exile, and nationhood : interview by Robert A. Hill for "CBC tuesday night" -- You don't play with revolution : McGill daily interview, Congress of Black Writers -- pt. 4. Correspondence -- Appendix 1. C.L.R. James : the man and his work / by Martin Glaberman -- Appendix 2. Beyond the mournful silence / by Robert A. Hill -- Appendix 3. On the banning of Walter Rodney from Jamaica / C.L.R. James.