"You Don t Play With Revolution" collects seven never-before-published lectures by Marxist cultural critic C.L.R. James, delivered during his stay in Montreal in 1967-1968. Ranging in topic from Marx and Lenin to Shakespeare and Rousseau to Caribbean history and the Haitian Revolution, these lectures demonstrate the staggering breadth and clarity of James knowledge and interest.

Little information exists in print on the critical period James spent working with West Indian intellectuals and students in Canada in the late 1960s; this collection highlights the themes we have come to...