Book Description
Based on Alex Haley’s bestselling classic The Autobiography of Malcolm X, a rare, lucidly composed screenplay from one of America’s great masters of letters.

Son of a Baptist minister; New York City hustler; honor student; convicted criminal;powerful minister in the Nation of Islam; father and husband:Malcolm X transformed himself, time and again, in order to become one of the most feared, loved, and undeniably charismatic leaders of twentieth-century America. No one better represents the tumultuous times of his generation, and there is no one better to capture him and his milieu than James Baldwin. With spare, elegant, yet forceful dialogue and fresh, precise camera directions, Baldwin breathes cinematic life into this controversial and important figure, offering a new look at a man who changed himself in order to change the country. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

interesting
This is a decent read, though not too learn anything about Malcolm x.It was written while Elijah Muhammad was still alive, so some of the seedier details of the story of their split are left out, probably out of a fear ofvillifying the NOI.The script that was eventually used for Spike Lee'sfilm is an improvement, both dramatically and historically.Clearly,though, Baldwin deserved some credit in the film, as there were passages ofdialogue and story elements that remain.He actually has credit in thefilm, but not on the promo work on the tape cover.All things told, I'donly recommend it to Baldwin and Malcolm X completists.

intellectually stimulating and left 36 footprints in my soul
the beginning was powerful when he reveiwed his childhood. his speeches were a bit biased, but they told a good story about life. What is life? Is life, life? Are we life? Does the cookbook give the proper recipe for twicebaked potatoes? Loving is Life. Malcolm X had trouble finding thisrealization, but his message was bold, powerful, and worth reading about.Cheese is good. Beef, it's what's for dinner. ... Read more

Book Description
This collection of interviews with James Baldwin covers theperiod 1961-1987, from the year of the publication of Nobody Knows MyNames, his fourth book, to just a few weeks before his death. Itincludes the last formal conversation with him.

Twenty-seven interviews reprinted here come from a variety ofsources--newspapers, radio, journals, and review--and show this celebratedauthor in all his eloquence, anger, and perception of racial, social, andliterary situations in America.

Over the years Baldwin proved to be an easily accessible and cooperativesubject for interviews, both in the United States and abroad. He frequentlyreferred to himself as "a kind of trans-Atlantic commuter." Whethercandidly discussing his own ghetto origins, his literary mission andachievements, his role in the civil rights movement, or his views on worldaffairs, black and white relations, Vietnam, Christianity, and fellowwriters, Baldwin was always both popular and controversial.

This important collection contributes significantly to the clarificationand expansion of the ideas in Baldwin's fiction, drama, essays, and poetry.It gives additional life to a stunning orator and major literary figure whoconsidered himself a sojourner even in his own country. Yet early in hiscareer Baldwin told Studs Terkel: "I am an American writer. This country ismy subject." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Power of a Classic Author's Voice

Since his death December 1, 1987, James Baldwin's reputation as a quintessential twentieth century American author has continued to increase in power and influence. The author of such diverse seminal works as the essay "The Fire Next Time," and the novels "Another Country" and "Just Above My Head," his literary voice has been described as one of those indispensable to American literature. A number of biographies about him, collections of his work, and serious studies of the same all but guarantees that voice will never be lost. CONVERSATIONS WITH JAMES BALDWIN adds to that certainty but, thankfully, also does quite a bit more:

Delving into these conversations provides readers with a genuine experience of the literary and spiritual intelligence that Baldwin employed so capably both to illuminate his writings and to debate--in the flesh--issues of civil rights, gender, race relations, cultural politics, and the overall human condition. Through these pages we join him in a Chicago radio station with historian Studs Terkel as they discuss the impact of blues singer Bessie Smith's music upon Baldwin's writing style. In another chat, we sit in Paris with him, celebrated scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and the late international diva Josephine Baker discussing the advantages and disadvantages of African Americans living and working in France.

In all, more than two dozen "Conversations with James Baldwin," courtesy of just as many interviewers, take us inside the brilliant mind and world of the great writer. The sense of intimate intellectual sharing that this book provides is one to be savored. So too are the priceless insights they contain along with Baldwin's still indispensable voice.

By Author-Poet Aberjhani
author of The Harlem Renaissance Way Down South
and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History)
... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
An engaging introduction to four of the greatest Americans-George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Webster, and Abraham Lincoln.Their lives are set forth in a simple manner, yet with many interesting details, and a glimpse is given of the trials and successes which combined to mold their character and afford such stirring examples for the youth of today. The stories are patriotic in every line, readable in every paragraph, and inspire the reader to the best thoughts and deeds.Download Description
A Book for Young Americans. ... Read more

Book Description
Set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality.With a sharp, probing imagination, James Baldwin's now-classic narrative delves into the mystery of loving and creates a moving, highly controversial story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (78)

Good Stuff Doesn't Age, It Matures
Although advancing in its fifties, Giovanni's Room is a novel which does not get older, it only gets better. It still strikes the reader with the courage and opennes with which James Baldwin tackles his largely unspeakable (at the time of its writing) subject matter. The pains and tortures of search for sexual identity are rendered with real mastery and even if the ending may seem a bow to the demands of an age long gone, it only adds to the psychological truth of the novel. An absolute classic!

introspective, subtle, but passionate and full of drama
"Giovanni's Room", set in Paris of the 1950's, is a memorable study of a tormented soul of a young American, David. Narrated in the first person singular, this novel is deep and dark, making the reader feel the David's emotions and passions.

David, who moved to France like many young Americans after the World War II, to pursue the freedom within the artistic atmosphere and the traditions of the Old World, found in fact the side of himself he did not expect to uncover.

Starting the story at the point of total exhaustion, on the verge of madness, just about to leave the South of France for Paris again (and then, perhaps, finally to return to the States - although the ending is open in this respect) David recollects his relationship with Giovanni, an Italian barman whom he met on the night while searching for money to pay his hotel bill (or for another accommodation). When Hella, David's girlfriend, travels in Spain trying to organize her thoughts far from David and get to know herself better in solitude, David decides to ask Jacques, a man he knew casually, for money. Jacques invites him for dinner and then they end up going for a couple of drinks to the gay bar. Jacques is a friend of the owner, Guillaume, and they abandon themselves in a conversation, although Jacques clearly fancies the young barman. When two older men leave them alone, David and Giovanni immediately feel attracted to each other and by the morning they go together to Giovanni's room, where David subsequently moves. Guillaume, who gave Giovanni the job in hope to win the boy's heart, is very jealous; Jacques is also a bit upset, but both of them hope that the relationship won't last.

Well... the relationship does not last, and this is the information revealed at the very beginning of the novel. David is, all in all, a disagreeable character (another novel in which the main character is not likeable, yet evoking sympathy in the reader because of his complexity and misery, and certainly possessing some charm, which he uses without scruples), who acts egoistically and opportunistically, but also according to convention. By being selfish and cruel to those who love him, he destroys not only them, but also himself. He cannot accept his love for Giovanni, because he fights his gay tendencies (he cannot even think about himself as gay and always tries to distinguish himself from "old fairies" like Guillaume and Jacques), but when he finally gives in, it is too late to rescue the relationship. Here lies, for me, the universal message in the story: what happens if by our own silliness, mistake, carelessness, or hard-headedness, whatever, we lose the love of our life and, worse, have an utterly destructive influence on him or her?

Giovanni is a great character, he is a complete opposite of David - he follows his instincts to the point of abandoning himself in them, at the same time doing it completely unconsciously - he is convinced that he acts very rationally and has reasonable plans for the future. When David leaves him upon Hella's return to Paris, Giovanni loses all the grip onto reality and that leads to the tragedy.

Hella, the only significant female character in the novel (except marginal, although complex, Sue, who is another person in the collection of people used by David) is also very interesting - basically, David treats her exactly the same as he treats Giovanni, but she is much more down-to earth and with typical American self- control manages to get back on her feet.

The story takes place in Paris, the protagonist breathes the existentialis atmosphere, wandering in the narrow, old streets during the night. His desperation does not prevent him from perceiving the beauty of the city, but at the same time the city adds to his melancholy. In a different setting the story would undoubtedly be different, and so the novel seamlessly connects its time, place and plot.

James Baldwin created a remarkable novel, full of introspective, universal questions that never get outdated. He managed to write about the problems, which at his time were rather hidden and unspoken. Very subtle prose and concise form round up the list of "Giovanni's Room's" qualities. This is the first book by this author I have read and I will definitely try more.

A Masterpiece
Giovanni's Room is such a poignant, touching, and finely crafted novel that deals with homosexuality, love, and death in a way that one rarely finds in one. The characters, each and every single one of them, are as real as anybody today in the 21st century. The emotions described in the book are so real and vivid that the novel rarely reads like a novel. A touching story, sharp social commentary, and a very vivid view of what homosexuality was like back in the 1960's in Paris.

An affair of the heart threatened by society's "clutter and disorder"
"Giovanni's Room" is unique among Baldwin's novels for its all-white cast of characters--a decision that, his letters revealed, worried Baldwin somewhat, fearing that his portrayals would not seem authentic. His concerns turned out to be baseless; both Giovanni and David are convincing characters whose magnetism and flawed idealism stand in sharp relief to the cynical, grimy atmosphere of the bars and rooms they inhabit.

David is engaged to be married when his fiancee, Hella, travels to Spain to "find out" what she wants from life--and from David. He then meets Giovanni in a Parisian bar and their fate is sealed as soon as they enter Giovanni's tiny, claustrophobic room and its "outlines of clutter and disorder." David's internal struggle begins immediately: "if I do not open the door at once and get out of here, I am lost. But I knew I could not open the door, I knew it was too late."

I've come to think of Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room" as the inverted (no pun intended) example of Forster's "Room with a View," the book it oddly and inexplicably reminds me of. Although Baldwin is tragic where Forster is comic, the impossible coupling of stalwart David and carefree Giovanni echo the equally improbable pair of straitlaced Lucy and bohemian George. And in each novel, the foreign setting strips away David's and Lucy's inhibitions while it enhances Giovanni's and George's forwardness.

Both books, too, deal with a typically nineteenth-century theme, pitting moral honesty and romantic love against what "proper" society expects of its members. David is expected to marry Hella, as Lucy is expected to marry Cecil, and the comic or tragic outcome of each novel is determined entirely by the sincerity of the choices made by its characters. In Baldwin's more modern version, however, the virtue of David and Giovanni's relationship and the (yes) innocence of their love cannot ultimately withstand the pressures of society and the strictures of David's upbringing, and, inexorably, the couple become as sullied as the "clutter and disorder" of Giovanni's room.

Although strange and foriegn, its idea is still compelling
This book was written a long time ago for a completely different audience. That being said, this is still a good book that gives insight on to the lives of people in France in the early 20th century as well as possibly opening people's eyes to the idea of homosexuality in a whole new light. Baldwin creates real people, that could be me or you, and puts them in a situation that isnt too far fetched to consider, and does a good job of showing how people act.
Although it is old and slightly out dated, it is still an interesting and worth while read in today's world. ... Read more

Book Description
Vintage Readers are a perfect introduction to some of the great modern writers presented in attractive, accessible paperback editions.

“One of the few genuinely indispensable writers.” —The Saturday Review

In his internationally acclaimed novels, short stories, plays and essays, James Baldwin was and remains a powerfully prophetic voice in the American literary landscape, fearlessly brooding upon issues such as race, sex, politics, and art. His literary achievement is a lasting legacy about what it means to be American.

Vintage Baldwin includes the short story “Sonny’s Blues”; the galvanizing civil rights examination “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation”; the essays “Fifth Avenue, Uptown: A Letter from Harlem,” “The Discovery of What It Means to Be an American,” and “Nobody Knows My Name: A Letter from the South”; and excerpts from the novel Another Country and the play The Amen Corner. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Forever Baldwin
Baldwin saved my life. In my mid thrities I began to read Baldwin. I started with Tell Me How Long the Train Been's Gone. I have read everything he has ever written-plays, critical essays, novels. I buy multiple copies to be sure I have them to give to people who visit me and pay attention to my library. I have a first edition of The Fire Next Time. He should be mandatory reading in America in High Schools and Colleges. He obviously writes about race in America, but beyond that he speaks to the actualization of the individual, the moral imperative of our times. His voice sings and resonates truth in a way that often stops you dead and you must re-read a phrase or a passage again and again to absorb the brilliance of his ability to articulate what we know deeply, without our own poetry to express deep longing, pain and passion. He is an author's author. For the simplist of stories I recommend, If Beale Street Could Talk. For social expose I suggest Nobody Knows my Name. If you have never read Baldwin, I must say, if not not know then when? Until America comes to terms with the reality of the identity of the black man in our culture we will never be free, or be able to know ourselves.

2 fantastic pieces!
Of the 8 selections featured in this reader, I found 2 to be beyond comparison. "Sonny's Blues" and "Another Country."

Sonny's Blues had simply an *amazing* opening--one of those opening paragraphs that fully pulls you right in. The story itself was very simplistic and...well, just good.

Also, I really enjoyed Another Country for the pure progression of events. It took place as a larger story (which it is), yet was self-contained within its own right.

As far as the other selections go, I found it rather hit and miss. The first few were rather short and enjoyable. Others seemed redundant in their message. ... Read more

Book Description
No book is better for introducing children ages 6 to 9 to legendary historical figures than this collection of stories admirably retold by James Baldwin at the beginning of the last century.Selecting the best of our literary heritage, Baldwin cast it into a form that delights children of all ages.Beginning with stories of heroes from British history, including King Alfred and the Cakes, King Canute on the Seashore, and Bruce and the Spider, the book moves on to tales of other lands.From Ancient Greece come stories of The Brave Three Hundred, Alexander and Bucepahlus, and Diogenes the Wise Man.Introducing the history of Rome are the Story of Cincinnatus, Horatius at the Bridge, and Julius Caesar.The stories of William Tell, Arnold Winkelried, and Robin Hood impart a bit of the flavor of the Middle Ages.Rounding out the collection are a number of timeless tales that show heroes in action: Damon and Pythias, The Sword of Damocles, Picciola, and The King and His Hawk.Children naturally take a deep interest in such stories.The reading of them will not only give pleasure but will help to lay the foundation for broader literary studies since nearly all are the subjects of frequent allusions in poetry and prose.Young children will enjoy having these stories read to them, while older children will delight in reading them to themselves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

An important book
This wonderful little book was first published in 1896 (at least that's the one I have). It contains fifty short stories that were originally considered indispensable for the education of truly literate and well-rounded children. The fifty stories are classics of American culture, and as such are almost completely forgotten in today's America.

The stories teach such lessons as perseverance, self-sacrifice, compassion, diligence, and much more. And they star such once-well-known people as King Alfred of Britain, Pocahontas, Sir Walter Raleigh, Leonidas and the 300 Spartans, and Socrates.

So, if you have a young person who you would like to read truly educational stories to, then you really should consider getting this book. It was an important book then, and it is an important book now. I give it my highest recommendations!

All about male heroes
Looking at the table of contents, this book is almost exclusively about male heroes and adventurers.Not good inspriation for young girls?

Great resource for history
We use this as part of our homeschooling cirriculum and the kids always love the stories.So do I!I'm often telling my husband about what we read in the evenings.

Wonderful short stories
Great wholesome short stories that are also educational.A joy to read aloud to my children.

Fifty Famous Stories Retold
I have been reading these stories to my preschooler.She has such a adventurous spirit and loves stories of "heroes".This is a perfect collection to inspire true heroism while opening her mind to beautiful stories of Julius Caesar, King Alfred and others.Each story is short, but well told.I am very happy I bought this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Term paper due tomorrow? Need to cram for a test? Or just looking for the best information about a favorite literary work?

Turn to "Short Stories for Students" to get your research done in record time. Brought to you by Thomson Gale--the world's leading source of literary criticism and analysis--this e-doc contains: plot summary; character analysis; author biography; an overview of the story's themes, style, and historical context; a compendium of in-depth critical material; study questions; suggestions for further reading; and much more.

Why choose "Short Stories for Students"? Because no other source offers so much in such a compact package. Trust the experts: Thomson Gale--and "Short Stories for Students."Download Description

Term paper due tomorrow? Need to bone up for a test? Or just looking for the best information about a favorite literary work?

Turn to "Short Stories for Students" to get your research done in record time. Brought to you by the Gale Group--the world's leading source of literary criticism and analysis--this e-doc contains: plot summary; character analysis; author biography; an overview of the story's themes, style, and historical context; a compendium of in-depth critical material; study questions; suggestions for further reading; and much more.

Why choose "Short Stories for Students"? Because no other source offers so much in such a compact package. Trust the experts: The Gale Group--and "Short Stories for Students." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Useless.
This is NOT the full text, but a study-guide for retards who can't read thirty-pages. I blame myself really, but Amazon has not made it clear that this is but a guide. Screw you Amazon and screw you Gale, and screw your Short Stories For Students. Also, screw Student's like me who though they could outsmart the system by not purchasing the expensive text-book with the stories in it, but rather take the stories out of the library. Also, screw the Boston Public Library's Copely branch for not having this in today.

Sonny blues is great
i think that this is one of the best stories i have ever read. I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of their own today. ... Read more

Amazon.com
It's shocking how little has changed between the races in this country since 1963, when James Baldwin published this coolly impassioned plea to "end the racial nightmare." The Fire Next Time--even the title is beautiful, resonant, and incendiary. "Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?" Baldwin demands, flicking aside the central race issue of his day and calling instead for full and shared acceptance of the fact that America is and always has been a multiracial society. Without this acceptance, he argues, the nation dooms itself to "sterility and decay" and to eventual destruction at the hands of the oppressed: "The Negroes of this country may never be able to rise to power, but they are very well placed indeed to precipitate chaos and ring down the curtain on the American dream."

Baldwin's seething insights and directives, so disturbing to the white liberals and black moderates of his day, have become the starting point for discussions of American race relations: that debasement and oppression of one people by another is "a recipe for murder"; that "color is not a human or a personal reality; it is a political reality"; that whites can only truly liberate themselves when they liberate blacks, indeed when they "become black" symbolically and spiritually; that blacks and whites "deeply need each other here" in order for America to realize its identity as a nation.

Yet despite its edgy tone and the strong undercurrent of violence, The Fire Next Time is ultimately a hopeful and healing essay. Baldwin ranges far in these hundred pages--from a memoir of his abortive teenage religious awakening in Harlem (an interesting commentary on his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain) to a disturbing encounter with Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. But what binds it all together is the eloquence, intimacy, and controlled urgency of the voice. Baldwin clearly paid in sweat and shame for every word in this text. What's incredible is that he managed to keep his cool. --David LaskinBook Description
A Classic Work on Race, Now Available for the First Time on Audio - read by Jesse L. Martin from Law & Order!

At once a powerful evocation of his early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice--to both the individual and America at large--The Fire Next Time, which galvanized the nation in the early days of the civil rights movement, stands as one of the essential works of our literature.It remains as relevant today, widely read in classrooms and lecture halls across America, as it was when first published, 45 years ago.

Presented unabridged on 3 CDs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (29)

Not sure yet
I had to read this book, as many people told me if your a reader this is one you must not simply read but own. So I got it and started reading. It never really grabbed me, but I made it through. I plan to read it again within at a different time.

It came true
The man knew what he was talking about, when he said the U S would burn because of racial discord.

Simply riveting; 1960s and Today: It holds its power
My sense is that Baldwin wrote The Fire Next Time for anyone who had ears to hear, regardless of color or faith or gender. The emotional intelligence with which he speaks is riveting.

Great language
Wonderful prose -- use of language.

WOW! loved this book!
This man is such an elegant writer, it's sick!And he brings a totally different perspective to the topic of Blacks in America at hand...Sympathy vs. Hostility... LOVED THIS BOOK! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Nice Collection of Short Stories!
Langston Hughes provides an introduction into this selected anthology of short stories by prominent African American writers like Langston Hughes' himself with his classic short story, "Thank You, Mam." We also have a short story by poet Gwendolyn Brooks and dancer/choreographer Katherine Dunham. There are the traditional authors like Zora Neale Huston, James Baldwin, Charles Chesnutt, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ralph Ellison, Ernest J. Gaines, Jean Toomer, and Richard Wright only to name a few. It's still a great anthology of assorted stories about African American life in America from the South to Chicago and New York.

The Best of The Best
This book is a collection of short stories that was put together by the great Harlem Renaissance writer, Langston Hughes. Some authors whose works are also featured in the book are Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, and Alice Walker. These stories are fun to read and they speak about the current issues that Black America was facing during the time period. This book is for anyone who is trying to better understand black thought during the 20th century.

"The Best Short Stories by Black Writers" is a #1 classic!
This book is an excellent example of reality. In each short story, there is some kind of relivance of growing up in a nation filled with crime, love, kindenss, hardships, and friendships. The writers express themselvesso wonderfully, vivid pictures of the events are played in my head. Itkeeps middle-school children very attentive, mainly because they can easilyrelate to the troubles of growing up today. Teens can feel a sense ofcomfort in this book because they know they are not alone. This bookcontains collections by some of the best authors in the world. It reallymakes the african-american culture shine to where all cultures will enjoy! ... Read more

Book Description
James Baldwin was one of America's finest and most influential writers. By the time he died in 1987, his books, such as The Fire Next Time, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and Giovanni's Room, had become modern classics.
James Campbell knew Baldwin for ten years before Baldwin's death. For this book, he interviewed many of Baldwin's friends and examined several hundred pages of correspondence. He quotes from the vast and disturbing file that the FBI compiled on Baldwin and he discusses Baldwin's sometimes turbulent relationships with Norman Mailer, Richard Wright, and Marlon Brando, as well as his friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. Elegantly written, candid, and original, Talking at the Gates is a comprehensive account of the life and work of a writer who believed that "the unexamined life is not worth living." ... Read more

Book Description
A retelling for the youthful reader of the most interesting parts of Cervantes' great novel about Don Quixote, the eccentric gentlemanwho fancies himself a knight-errant. The adventures most appealing to children are included, and related in such a way as to form a continuous narrative, with both the spirit and style of the original preserved as much as possible. Suitable for ages 10 and up. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Dwight McBride, the editor of this diverse and challenging new collection of James Baldwin scholarship, reports that at least 15 dissertations on Baldwin have appeared since 1990, suggesting that a revival may be taking place. That this should occur now, in the heyday of cultural studies, and among younger scholars, is especially promising for Baldwin, who has suffered since the publication of his first novel in 1953 (Go Tell It on the Mountain) by being relegated to one or another critical category. McBride notes, "It is finally possible to understand Baldwin's vision of and for humanity in its complexity, locating him not as exclusively gay, black, expatriate, activist, or the like but as an intricately negotiated amalgam of all of those things, which had to be constantly tailored to fit the circumstances in which he was compelled to articulate himself." Among the best essays here are the reception studies, William Spurlin's "Culture, Rhetoric, and Queer Identity: James Baldwin and the Identity Politics of Race and Sexuality," which focuses on Baldwin's position in the Black Power movement, including Eldridge Cleavor's famously homophobic reading of Baldwin, and Roderick A. Ferguson's elegantly readable "The Parvenu Baldwin and the Other Side of Redemption: Modernity, Race, Sexuality and the Cold War." --Regina Marler Book Description
View the Table of Contents Read the Introduction.

"This excellent volume conceives of Baldwin as a figure crucial to discussions of whiteness, sexuality, and globalization. The times are ripe for the valuable reconsideration of Baldwin that James Baldwin Now provides."
—Jennifer DeVere Brody,George Washington University

One of the most prolific and influential African American writers, James Baldwin was for many a harbinger of hope, a man who traversed the genres of art-writing novels, essays, and poetry.

James Baldwin Now takes advantage of the latest interdisciplinary work to understand the complexity of Baldwin's vision and contributions without needing to name him as exclusively gay, expatriate, black, or activist. It was, in fact, Baldwin who said, "it is quite impossible to write a worthwhile novel about a Jew or a Gentile or a Homosexual, for people refuse . . . to function in so neat and one-dimensional a fashion." McBride has gathered a unique group of new scholars to interrogate Baldwin's life, his presence, and his political thought and work. James Baldwin Now finally addresses the man who spoke, and continues to speak, so eloquently to crucial issues of the twentieth century.

Table of Contents

Introduction: "How Much Time Do You Want for Your Progress?" New Approaches to James Baldwin
Dwight A. McBride

Part I: Baldwin and Race

1 White Fantasies of Desire: Baldwin and the Racial Identities of Sexuality
Marlon B. Ross

2 Now More Than Ever: James Baldwin and the Critique of White Liberalism
Rebecca Aanerud

3 Finding the Words: Baldwin, Race Consciousness, and Democratic Theory
Lawrie Balfour

Part II: Baldwin and Sexuality
4 Culture, Rhetoric, and Queer Identity: James Baldwin and the Identity Politics of Race and Sexuality
William J. Spurlin

5 Of Mimicry and (Little Man Little) Man: Toward a Queersighted Theory of Black Childhood
Nicholas Boggs

6 Sexual Exiles: James Baldwin and Another Country
James A. Dievler

Part III: Baldwin and the Transatlantic
7 Baldwin's Cosmopolitan Loneliness
James Darsey

8 "Alas, Poor Richard!": Transatlantic Baldwin, the Politics of Forgetting, and the Project of Modernity
Michelle M. Wright

9 The Parvenu Baldwin and the Other Side of Redemption: Modernity, Race, Sexuality, and the Cold War
Roderick A. Ferguson

Part IV: Baldwin and Intertextuality

10 (Pro)Creating Imaginative Spaces and Other Queer Acts: Randall Kenan's A Visitation of Spirits and Its Revival of James Baldwin's Absent Black Gay Man in Giovanni's Room
Sharon Patricia Holland

11 "I'm Not Entirely What I Look Like": Richard Wright,James Baldwin, and the Hegemony of Vision; or, Jimmy's FBEye Blues
Maurice Wallace

12 Life According to the Beat: James Baldwin, Bessie Smith, and the Perilous Sounds of Love
Josh Kun

Part V: Baldwin and the Literary
13 The Discovery of What It Means to Be a Witness: James Baldwin's Dialectics of Difference
Joshua L. Miller

14 Selfhood and Strategy in Notes of a Native Son
Lauren Rusk

15 Select Bibliography of Works by and on James Baldwin
Jeffrey W. Hole

Contributors

Index ... Read more