Mullane Literary Associates

Claude McKay by Winston James

Praise for Winston James’ Claude McKay

“Elegantly written and carefully reasoned, this is a fascinating look at the political evolution of a key literary figure.”

Publishers Weekly

“The wandering poet and revolutionary socialist Claude McKay was one of the twentieth century’s most captivating writers, noted for his intellectual intensity and emotional depth. Combining unparalleled erudition, literary sensitivity, and political nous…a compelling and authoritative account of the life that McKay made and the circumstances within which he made it.”

Peter Hulme, professor emeritus, University of Essex

“A revelation….Page after page, McKay becomes an increasingly startling figure….As the narrative gathers pace, McKay shimmers, the life outgrowing the circumstances of his history. The unfolding story presents us with a portrait that is simultaneously compelling and troubling. McKay will never be the same.”

Bill Schwarz, Queen Mary University of London

“Meticulously researched and superbly written, this is the premier work on Claude McKay’s astonishing artistic range and diverse passions….an incisive examination of the wider Jamaican and Caribbean colonial context, and a major contribution to the history of the Atlantic world, the Harlem Renaissance, and the overlooked connection with the founders of Négritude.”

Franklin W. Knight, Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Professor Emeritus of History, Johns Hopkins University

“A compelling and provocative rendering of the complex transnational racial geographies that shaped the remarkable Claude McKay. Winston James illuminates underexplored features of post-emancipation history and, through exhaustive research, dramatizes the deep entanglements between place and psyche, poetry and politics, violence and hope.”

Honor Ford-Smith, York University

“James provides a deep understanding of McKay’s early political formation and radicalization….while retaining a keen sensitivity to McKay’s literary contributions.”

Michelle Ann Stephens, Rutgers University–New Brunswick

About the Author

Winston James is a widely published historian of the African diaspora and author of the previous books A Fierce Hatred of Injustice: Claude McKay’s Jamaica and His Poetry of Rebellion; The Struggles of John Brown Russwurm, and Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia, winner of the Gordon K. Lewis Memorial Award for Caribbean Scholarship of the Caribbean Studies Association. He has held teaching positions in the United Kingdom and the United States, most recently as professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. He is at work on the second volume of a political biography of McKay.