Sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle . . . all presented in searing, brilliant prose that James Baldwin gives us no matter what form he is working in. The New York Times Book Review
Basically the finest essay I ve ever read. It s technically two essays but it feels like one. [James] Baldwin refused to hold anyone s hand. He was both direct and beautiful all at once. He did not seem to write to convince you. He wrote beyond you. Ta-Nehisi Coates, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award winner Between the World and Me
It was as if I sat on my porch steps with a wise father, a kind, present uncle, who said this to me. Told me I was worthy of love. Told me I was worth something in the world. Told me I was a human being. Jesmyn Ward, editor of The Fire This Time and author of the National Book Award winner Sing, Unburied, Sing
So eloquent in its passion and so scorching in its candor that it is bound to unsettle any reader. The Atlantic
James Baldwin (1924 1987) was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, was published in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his essay collections Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time were bestsellers that made him an influential figure in the growing civil rights movement. Baldwin spent much of his life in France, where he moved in order to escape the racism and homophobia of the United States. He died in France in 1987, a year after being made a Commander of the French Legion of Honor.
