C. L. R. James, one of the foremost cultural and historical theorists of the twentieth century, arrived in the United States in 1938 and shortly thereafter met and fell in love with Constance
Webb. Though separated by barriers of race and background, they shared a commitment to radical politics and social reform, James began an epistolary courtship. His letters to her over the
course of the next decade not only provide insights into James's own life but also constitute a record of his intellectual development and passionate engagement with American culture.
James's American sojourn represented a period of great personal and intellectual growth. Not only did he woo and eventually marry Webb, but he also responded intensely to American popular
culture and developed the ideas that would shape his books Mariners, Renegades and Castaways and American Civilization (published posthumously). These letters--passionate, poetic, and
wonderfully readable--demonstrate James's lively intelligence and quick humor, his political commitment, and his love of art, literature, and movies. They constitute one of the major resources
on his life and thought during this period.
