LEFT: Book cover. RIGHT: Laura Forbes

Title: Beyond a Boundary
Author: C.L.R James
Reviewed by: Laura Forbes

I don't know much about the history of cricket, or even about the sport itself, but I do know that 2007 is the first year for the West Indies to host the ICC Cricket World Cup since the first tournament of its kind in 1975. It is a shame that Cyril Lionel Robert James, or C. L. R. James, is not here to report on this significant event.

My untrained eyes could not notice the nuances of strokes if I were to attend a match, but I am certain that James would bring the plays to light, surely accompanied by some editorialising on why it took this long to get the tournament to the West Indies.

First published in 1963 in the United Kingdom, Beyond a Boundary was reprinted in the United States in 1983 with a new introduction by Robert Lipsyte, a sports writer for The New York Times, who identifies the main folds of James' thesis: "C. L. R. James gets to the root of the exhilarating liberation from class and race and future that exists during the transcendent moments of play; but he never forgets that this liberation exists only within the boundaries of the game, and then only for the gamers."

With cricket, not superficially either, but more substantially than any writer could, James uses a sport to characterise a society and its woes. For at least the first half of the 20th century, James describes an unjust time for the black population of the former British colonies and more than others, Trinidad and Tobago. He does not scrimp on facts or knowledge of cricket to get his political points across; James sets the stage of the time with limitless statistics and understanding of the players, to underscore societal tensions and injustices.

How will the goal (if not the goal, then at least James') of West Indian self-governance be reached when a black man has not yet been named captain of a cricket team on which he is the most capable player? This is one of the questions that drives the book up until the accumulation of questions, without any answers in sight, builds to anger in James. Anger is a necessary, and in this case useful, sentiment that spurs him to write a statement to the Queen's Park Cricket Club in Trinidad clearly putting forth politically-based cricket grievances, which were previously under the surface.

The fourth of eight statements reads, "The public is profoundly irritated by its conviction that the captaincy of the West Indies team for years has been manipulated in such a manner as deliberately to exclude black men." As Lipsyte comments, cricket affords limited liberty to the players when protected by the boundary of the oval, but it doesn't completely equal the playing field - certainly not outside the game. Imagined distinctions of white, brown, black are translated into very real social class structures that trickle into the sport. The public, of course, notices this in cricket during the 1930s to 1950s and which James brings to the forefront of the organisational bodies governing cricket.

When speaking about the British school system (and this is only one of the related tangents that James addresses, another interesting one being the unnecessary snobbery in the art world) James notes the 'limitation on spirit' it imposes. Colonialism, its codes, then not only limit the spirit of schoolchildren but all its subjects. During the 1950s there is still colonialism, with the limitation of opportunityin place. James, with the help of and by partnering with, Learie Constantine, he moves to England to write and speak with West Indian emigrants about the possibility of self-government at 'home.'

James, the most authoritative cricket reporter and just generally respected human being, gives voice to popular views at the time that can easily be appreciated today. He does not simply write about cricket, nor does he use cricket simply as a symbol to argue for self-governance in the years leading up to Trinidad and Tobago's (and Jamaica's and other Caribbean nations') independence. The book is an incredibly detailed and cohesive history of the sport, the history of the West Indies, the boundaries between sport and society, and between politics and their populace.

For those visiting for the 2007 Cricket World Cup James provides invaluable insight into the history of cricket and of the West Indies. For those wanting a refresher on the history of cricket, Beyond a Boundary guarantees a new take, and even those who don't know or care to know anything about cricket should still read this for the cultural truths it exposes.

The official song of this year's Cricket World Cup is 'The Game of Love and Unity' which notes that cricket is the game of 'every race, every class, every man, every girl.' Read Beyond a Boundary to be reminded of a time not so long ago when this game didn't accept all groups equally, and to think about everything that has and hasn't changed.