Laying out the dimensions of his argument, Gilroy identifies the main problem that he seeks to address: Groups have relied on the idea of cultural nationalism to examine the histories, experiences, and perspectives of modernity. However, the doubleness of Black people in the West complicates this cultural nationalism because it generates questions of ethnic identity and challenges notions of cultural insiderism that place Black thinkers outside of and against modernity. 

Gilroy instead proposes analyzing the racial and political identities of Black people in the West through the lens of a broader transnational configuration that he calls the Black Atlantic. Its webbed structure produces new cultural forms that are a consequence of the political and cultural exchange happening among the Americas, Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa. Black people in the West are both within and without dominant notions of Western modernity, thereby producing a counterculture of modernity.

To illustrate his point, Gilroy examines the life and work of 19th century Black journalist Martin R. Delany, illuminating the confrontation of nationalism and travel across the Black Atlantic in the production of political identities. Delany’s writing shows the impact of international travel on his understanding of racial identity and his political aspirations.