Ryan has been described as "the author of record for the nation's modern political history"[1] and "the most prolific and influential intellectual in post-colonial Trinidad".

[3] Ryan was born in Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago, to a lower-middle-class Afro-Trinidadian family.

[5] His dissertation, entitled The Transition to Nationhood in Trinidad and Tobago, focused primarily on Eric Williams and the rise of the People's National Movement.

[2] Ryan was a regular newspaper columnist, and many of his scholarly publications began as columns in the Trinidad Express.

[1] Sociologist Anthony Maingot described Ryan as "the most prolific and influential intellectual in post-colonial Trinidad".