Best Of James Baldwin

Best Of James Baldwin
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More from the literary legend behind If Beale Street Could Talk.
James Baldwin is an iconic author for our time, a writer who gave the world countless poignant essays, shorts stories, novels , plays, and poems during his 63 years. As a gay Black man coming to terms with his identity in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, Baldwin—who died on December 1, 1987—used his distinct perspective and lyrical writing to shed light on issues of race, homosexuality, and religion in a way that placed him ahead of his time when it came to social commentary.
From Go Tell It on the Mountain to Giovanni's Room and If Beale Street Could Talk , which was adapted for the big screen in 2019, we've gathered some of Baldwin's most popular texts, all of which are still essential reading today. And don't worry: we've included a complete list of his life's work, too—because they're all worthy of praise.
In his first novel, Baldwin penned a semi-autobiographical story about a boy named John Grimes, a teen growing up in 1930s Harlem who struggles with self-identity as the stepson of a strict Pentecostal minister. The story mirrors the author's own life; Baldwin too was raised by a stepfather who served as a Baptist pastor. " Mountain is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else,'' he told T he New York Times in 1985. ''I had to deal with what hurt me most. I had to deal, above all, with my father."
In this collection of essays, the writer captured the complexities of being Black in America during the first rumblings of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. Throughout his observations, Baldwin both lamented the injustices in the African American community and showed empathy for the oppressor, establishing himself as a key voice in the movement. In a 1958 New York Times review of Notes of a Native Son, African American poet Langston Hughes said this of Baldwin's words: "America and the world might as well have a major contemporary commentator."
A landmark novel in American literature, Giovanni's Room follows an American man living in Paris who struggles with understanding his sexuality as he deals with the societal pressures of masculinity—all as he begins an affair with an Italian bartender named Giovanni. The book, which is widely considered essential reading in the LGBTQ community, was a finalist for the National Book Awards' fiction category in 1957.
In another collection of 23 culturally reflective essays, Baldwin highlights the complexity of discriminatory tensions in our society with words that are still just as poignant and relevant today. A selection of Baldwin's new and revised works, many of the titles originally appeared in publications like Esquire and The New York Times Magazine . The essays earned him another spot as a finalist in the National Book Awards in 1962—this time in the nonfiction category.
Set in New York City's Greenwich Village in the 1950s, Another Country explores themes of mental health, interracial relationships, love, and bisexuality as the story follows the lives of a group of friends in the wake of a suicide.
After its release, many critics had mixed responses, with Paul Goodman for the New York Times writing that while the story was "personal, sinuous yet definite" it was also "strained [and] sometimes journalistic or noisy." He did, however, acknowledge that his harsher review was a result of Baldwin's previous work, which caused a higher standard of criticism.
Comprised of two essays that were originally published in The New Yorker —"My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation" and "Down At The Cross: Letter from a Region of My Mind"—in The Fire Next Time , Baldwin explains the place of both race and racism in society, while also examining and criticizing Christianity's role in American beliefs. At the time, critics saw this collection as a way for white Americans to (finally) get a look inside what life was like as a Black citizen in this country.
A collection of eight short stories, this book delves into yet another set of cultural themes through its varied characters: a struggling jazz musician, an angry father, and a racist cop to name a few. Popular titles included are Sonny's Blues; This Morning, This Evening, So Soon; and The Man Child.
In this Baldwin novel, a fictional noted actor Leo Proudhammer nearly dies after suffering from a heart attack on stage. Throughout the rest of the novel, he reflects on the events of his life—both those that led him to fame and those that revealed his weaknesses.
Now a Golden Globe-nominated film directed by Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk follows young couple Fonny and Tish as they deal with the trial and jailing of Fonny, who is falsely accused of rape. In the big-screen version, the title characters are played by up-and-comers Stephan James and Kiki Layne. When speaking to The Atlantic about what led him to take the story to the big screen, Jenkins said, "Baldwin had a few voices that he wrote in, and one of those voices was just deeply sensual, innately in touch with human emotions... I think this book is the perfect fusion of the more essayistic protest novel and somebody who deeply believed in sensuality and love."
In the years before his death, Baldwin envisioned a book about his friends Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers—but never finished it. By combining an unpublished manuscript called Remember This House and varied excerpts from Baldwin's book, notes, interviews, and letters, Raul Peck edited and published the story that the literary great never got to see come to life. Peck also directed the 2017 Oscar-nominated documentary of the same name.
Essays A Talk to Teachers Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son No Name in the Street Notes o f a Native Son The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings The Devil Finds Work The Evidence of Things Not Found The Price of the Ticket
Novels Another Country Giovanni's Room Go Tell It on the Mountain If Beale Street Could Talk Just Above My Head Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
Plays Blues for Mister Charlie The Amen Corner Poems Jimmy's Blues and Other Poems Short Stories Come Out the Wilderness Going to Meet the Man Previous Condition Sonny's Blues This Morning, This Evening, So Soon The Man Child The Outing The Rockpile
The Oprah’s Book Club Sit-Down with Leila Mottley
Pride and Joy: Queer Identity in Books
Abortion Rights Activists on the Fall of Roe
Foster Care May Be a Victim of Roe v. Wade Ruling
Kate Kelly on Fighting for Abortion Access
Gloria Steinem Says Passing the ERA is Crucial
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The Best Of James Baldwin: Favorite Pieces From The NPR Archive We are marking 50 years of NPR with a look back at stories from the archive. For this collection, we take a look at our best stories on novelist, poet and activist James Baldwin.

The Best Of James Baldwin: Favorite Pieces From The NPR Archive

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James Baldwin, circa 1979.

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We are marking a milestone, 50 years of NPR, with a look back at stories from the archive.
James Baldwin discusses cinema's role in perpetuating myths about American history and culture. "History is not a matter of the past. It's a matter of the present," he warns.
It is early August. A black man is shot by a white policeman. And the effect on the community is of "a lit match in a tin of gasoline."
No, this is not Ferguson, Mo. This was Harlem in August 1943, a period that James Baldwin writes about in the essay that gives its title to his seminal collection, Notes of a Native Son .
In the course of his work, James Baldwin got to know the civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers and Malcolm X. He was devastated when each man was assassinated, and planned, later in life, to write a book about all three of them.
Though Baldwin died in 1987 before that book could be written, the new Oscar-nominated documentary , I Am Not Your Negro , draws on his notes for the book, as well as from other of Baldwin's writings.
James Baldwin believed that America has been lying to itself since its founding. He wrote, spoke, and thought incessantly about the societal issues that still exist today. As the United States continues to reckon with its history of systemic racism and police brutality, Eddie S. Glaude Jr. guides us through the meaning and purpose of James Baldwin's work and how his words can help us navigate the current moment.

Written by Hussain M in Best Books Last Updated June 21, 2022
Want to start read Baldwin? But confused where to start? Yes, this article is for you. We’ve compiled the top 10 best James Baldwin books that still necessary to read today.
James Arthur Baldwin, in short, “James Baldwin”, an American essay writer, novel writer, playwright, poet, and activist, was born in New York, the US, in August 1924.
Throughout his 63 years as a writer, James Baldwin has left the world with innumerable emotional articles, short stories, novels, plays, and poetry. Baldwin, who died on December 1, 1987.
He utilized his distinctive perspective and his lyrical writing as a gay black man who became aware of his identity in the 1950s, 60s and 70s to shine a light on the themes of race, homosexuality and religion in a way that put him before his societal remark.
Baldwin was honored with many awards such as Eugene F. Saxton Memorial Trust Award, Foreign Drama Critics Award, George Polk Memorial Award and many more.
We recommend the following books if you are looking for the top 10 books by James Baldwin:
The Fire Next Time is a non-fiction book by James Baldwin. It was first published in 1963 and published by Dial Press. It energized the nation and gave the emerging civil rights movement a strong voice.
The Fire Next Time is made up of two essays that were first published in The New Yorker. “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the One-Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation” and “Down At The Cross: Letter from a Region of My Mind” in which Baldwin explains the role of race and racism in society, as well as the Part of Christianity in American beliefs.
“So eloquent in its passion and so scorching in its candor that it is bound to unsettle any reader.” –The Atlantic
A letter addresses the fundamental significance of Race in American history in this first essay, written in the character of a 14-year-old nephew of Baldwin.
The second essay, which contains the majority of the book, focuses on the relationships between race and religion, particularly the experience of Baldwin with the Church of Christ as a young person and on the Islamic conceptions of others in Harlem.
Critics well received the book and some regard it to be one of the most influential books on race relations in the 1960s.
In December 2016, a musical, theatrical tribute to Baldwin was premiered based on The Fire Next Time at the Harlem Stage in Harlem.
Giovanni’s Room is a remarkable novel in American literacy. It was first published in 1956 by Dial Press.
It is notable for presenting nuanced images of homosexuality and bisexuality to a reading public with empathy and artistry, encouraging a more significant public dialogue about same-sex desire issues.
It tells the story of a sexually struggling American man living in Paris who deals with the societal pressure of masculinity. Thus, he starts an affair with an Italian bartender named Giovanni.
The central themes were social alienation, Identity, Masculinity, Manhood, LGBQT+ spaces and movement in the public sphere and homosexuality.
Baldwin delivers a poignant and complicated story of death and desire that is revelatory in its understanding by examining the riddle of love and passion in a deeply conceived narrative.
The book was widely accepted in the LGBTQ community as worth reading, and in 1957 it was a finalist for the National Book Awards’ fiction category.
If Beale Street Could Talk was the fifth novel of Baldwin, a love story set in Harlem in the early 1970s. It was first published in 1974 by Dial Press.
James Baldwin has given America a poignant story of love in the face of injustice in this honest and powerful novel.
Baldwin’s story is told through the perspective of Tish, a nineteen-year-old girl who is in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her kid.
Tish and Fonny committed to marrying, but Fonny is wrongly accused of a heinous crime and imprisoned.
As their families work to clear his name, the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope of emotions, including love, sorrow, and hope, as they face an uncertain future.
“Emotional dynamite… a powerful assault upon the cynicism that seems today to drain our determination to confront deep social problems.” –Library Journal
Baldwin has created two characters so alive and ultimately realized that they are unforgettably embedded in the American consciousness in a love story that conjures the blues, where passion and grief are inextricably entwined.
It was made into a film of the same name, written and directed by Barry Jenkins, which won an Academy Award for Regina King for Best Supporting Actress.
On December 14, 2018, the film was released in theatres.
Go Tell It on the Mountain is a semi-autobiographical story about a boy named John Grimes; it is the first novel of James Baldwin published in 1953.
John Grimes, a stepson of a Pentecostal minister, growing up in Harlem in 1930.
Go Tell It on the Mountain is an emotional story over 70 years. This novel enables the reader to look into many individuals’ brains; yet, the plot lasts for 24 hours.
The book delves into several contentious issues in American history, including racism in Harlem and the South, poverty, and the rage that racism sparked.
Internal tensions between the protagonist John and his father, church members, and family culminate in outward problems.
Baldwin used various religious tropes to convey the tensions between the church and the Grimes family.
Vivid imagery, with lavish attention to details ― The New York Times
The structure of Go Tell It on the Mountain is nonlinear. The work is written in a narrative voice that switches between the perspectives of the characters. Scenes also tend to drift into reveries.
Part One is titled “The Seventh Day,” Part Two is titled “The Prayer of the Saints-Prayer,” and Part Three is titled “The Threshing-Floor”.
Go Tell It on the Mountain was named 39th in the Modern Library’s list of the 100 best English-language novels of the twentieth century in 1998.
From 1923 to 2005, Time Magazine featured the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-Language Novels list.
Another Country is a novel written by James Baldwin in 1962. The book is set in the late 1950s
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