To the forces of cultural nationalism trapped in their respective camps, this bold book sounds like a liberating call. There is, Paul Gilroy tells us, a culture that is not specifically African, American, Caribbean, or British, but all of these at once; a black Atlantic culture whose themes and techniques transcend ethnicity and nationality to produce something new and, until now, unremarked.

Challenging the practices and assumptions of cultural studies, The Black Atlantic also enriches our understanding of modernism.