[PEN-L] Tim Hector biography

[Louis Proyect]

Tim Hector: A Caribbean Radical’s Story
By Paul Buhle
University Press of Mississippi
ISBN 1-57806-851-7, hardback $32.00
Book News for Immediate Release

C. L. R. James had radical, faithful follower in Caribbean journalist Tim 
Hector

            Assigning a single occupation to Tim Hector (1942–2002) could 
prove to be a difficult task. The Antiguan-born newspaper publisher was 
known as an educator, sports and cultural commentator, and a global 
activist.
            Hector was instrumental in Antigua’s struggle for 
independence, due in large part to his regular column “Fan the Flame” that 
appeared in the newspaper Outlet. Author Paget Henry observed of the 
controversial column that “Hector’s ‘Fan the Flame’ was unique in all 
Caribbean literature for the range of issues tackled and the 
border-crossing between journalism and scholarship.”
            In Tim Hector: A Caribbean Radical’s Story (University Press 
of Mississippi) biographer Paul Buhle explores how Hector’s political 
philosophy evolved from early nationalism and militant Marxism into a hope 
for democratic self-determination in a future pan-Caribbean nation. Rather 
than providing readers with a detailed account of Hector’s day-to-day 
activities, Buhle is able to encompass the political and cultural world of 
the Caribbean and beyond through Hector’s eyes.
            Hector’s controversial writings often objected to oppressive 
colonial authority. He observed, “I believed then and believe now that 
there are certain qualities which island people have which are critical to 
the emancipation of humankind.” His extensive efforts in the Afro-Caribbean 
Liberation Movement led to much personal anguish and misery—arrests, the 
destruction of his printing press, and even the murder of his wife.
            This is the first book about this leading C. L. R James 
disciple and it offers a short history of the 20th century British West 
Indies radical movements from the perspective of a leading participant.

Paul Buhle, the authorized biographer of C. L. R. James, is a senior 
lecturer in history and American civilization at Brown University. A 
prize-winning author-editor and frequent contributor to the Nation, the 
Village Voice, TIKKUN, and the San Francisco Chronicle, he has published 
twenty-eight previous volumes including The Life and Work of C. L. R. 
James, Encyclopedia of the American Left, C. L. R. James's Caribbean, four 
other biographies, and five volumes on the victims of the Hollywood Blacklist.

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For more information contact Clint Kimberling, Publicist, at 601.432.6205 
or [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Read more about Tim Hector: A Caribbean Radical’s Story at 
http://www.upress.state.ms.us/catalog/spring2006/tim_hector.html

Tim Hector articles: http://www.candw.ag/~jardinea/fanflame.htm

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