Beyond a Boundary - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Beyond a Boundary is a memoir on cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

written by the Trinidadian Marxist intellectual C. L. R. James

C. L. R. James

Cyril Lionel Robert James , who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J.R. Johnson, was an Afro-Trinidadian historian, journalist, socialist theorist and essayist. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts...

. It mixes social commentary, particularly on the place of cricket in the West Indies and England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, with commentary on the game, arguing that what happened inside the "Boundary Line"

Boundary (cricket)

Boundary has two distinct meanings in the sport of cricket:# the edge or boundary of the playing field, and# a manner of scoring runs.-Edge of the field:...

in cricket affected life beyond it, as well as the converse. The book is in a sense a response to a Rudyard Kipling quote, "What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?"
James recounts the role cricket played in his family's history, and his meetings with such early West Indian players as George John

George John

George John was a West Indian fast bowler.George John was a very fast bowler in his prime and could cut the ball into the batsmen. He toured England with West Indies side in 1923 but by then was past his best. He claimed 90 wickets at 14.68 in all matches, 49 of them at 19.51 in first class matches...

, Wilton St Hill

Wilton St Hill

Wilton H. St Hill was a West Indian cricketer who played in West Indies' first Test match during their inaugural Test tour of England. A right-handed batman who played in a variety of batting positions, he represented Trinidad in first-class cricket between 1912 and 1930 and played in three Test...

, the great batsman George Headley

George Headley

George Alphonso Headley was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before the Second World War. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for West Indies and one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Headley also represented Jamaica and played professional club cricket in...

and the all rounder Learie Constantine

Learie Constantine

Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine MBE was a West Indian cricketer who played 18 Test matches before the Second World War. He took West Indies' first wicket in Test cricket and was the team's leading all-rounder and opening bowler for the entirety of his career...

, but focuses on the importance of the game and its players to society, specifically to colonial era Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...