C.L.R. James: Cricket’s Philosopher King
By Dave Renton
Haus £16.99
FT bookshop price: £13.59

C.L.R. James was many things: acclaimed historian, doyen of the Trotskyite left, friend and adviser to a generation of Caribbean and African independence leaders, and lifelong devotee of cricket. His Beyond a Boundary is widely regarded as the best book on the sport.

Dave Renton is nothing if not ambitious in his aim to “persuade Marxists of the joys of cricket, and followers of cricket of the calibre of James’ Marxism”. I doubt there will be many converts in the Pavilion at Lord’s, but the Trinidad-born polymath is a worthy subject.

Renton is clearly fascinated by James’s political journey. But he seems unwilling to engage with the contradictions of a man who combined great charisma with a reluctance to commit, either to people or to ideas.