Baldwin, James

Average customer rating:

God Help Us
have mercy
I Would Give this 6 Stars If I Could [39][36][T]
Remarkable Baldwin
Baldwin rings our HIS angel's chorus

Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0440330076
Release Date: 1980-06-15

Amazon.com

First published in 1953 when James Baldwin was nearly 30, Go Tell It on the Mountain is a young man's novel, as tightly coiled as a new spring, yet tempered by a maturing man's confidence and empathy. It's not a long book, and its action spans but a single day--yet the author packs in enough emotion, detail, and intimate revelation to make his story feel like a mid-20th-century epic. Using as a frame the spiritual and moral awakening of 14-year-old John Grimes during a Saturday night service in a Harlem storefront church, Baldwin lays bare the secrets of a tormented black family during the depression. John's parents, praying beside him, both wrestle with the ghosts of their sinful pasts--Gabriel, a preacher of towering hypocrisy, fathered an illegitimate child during his first marriage down South and refused to recognize his doomed bastard son; Elizabeth fell in love with a charming, free-spirited young man, followed him to New York, became pregnant with his son, and lost him before she could reveal her condition.

Baldwin lays down the terrible symmetries of these two blighted lives as the ironic context for John's dark night of the soul. When day dawns, John believes himself saved, but his creator makes it clear that this salvation arises as much from blindness as revelation: "He was filled with a joy, a joy unspeakable, whose roots, though he would not trace them on this new day of his life, were nourished by the wellspring of a despair not yet discovered."

Though it was hailed at publication for its groundbreaking use of black idiom, what is most striking about Go Tell It on the Mountain today is its structure and its scope. In peeling back the layers of these damaged lives, Baldwin dramatizes the story of the great black migration from rural South to urban North. "Behind them was the darkness," Baldwin writes of Gabriel and Elizabeth's lost generation, "nothing but the darkness, and all around them destruction, and before them nothing but the fire--a bastard people, far from God, singing and crying in the wilderness!" This is Baldwin's music--a music in which rhapsody is rooted anguish--and there is none finer in American literature. --David Laskin

Book Description

James Baldwin's stunning first novel is now an American classic. With startling realism that brings Harlem and the black experience vividly to life, this is a work that touches the heart with emotion while it stimulates the mind with its narrative style, symbolism, and excoriating vision of racism in America. Moving through time from the rural South to the northern ghetto, starkly contrasting the attitudes of two generations of an embattles family, Go Tell It On The Mountain is an unsurpassed portrayal of human beings caught up in a dramatic struggle and of a society confronting inevitable change.

"The most important novel written about the American Negro," says Commentary. "It is written with poetic intensity and great narrative skill," writes Harper's. Saturday Review praises it as "masterful," and the San Francisco Chronicle declares that this important American novel is "brutal, objective and compassionate."

Customer Reviews:

God Help Us.......2007-06-08

This is a well written story of the lives those working out their salvation amid poverty, hardship and seeking a strong spirituality.

have mercy.......2007-05-08

The power of God, the power of Satan, the power of love (or lack of it) and, almost above all, the power of language. This is a breathtaking thing. Read and remember who wrote it - then remind people about one of the most underrated masters of American life.

I Would Give this 6 Stars If I Could [39][36][T].......2007-03-10

Sometimes, when you finish a book, you look up and take a deep breath and say, "Wow." This is one such novel.

The descriptive and intricate prose is woven so tightly and consciously that Baldwin amazingly delivers prose masterfully without having to use complex language - this book will never send you to the dictionary. Some courtier designers need fine fabric to make quality attire. This designer can take rags and sew them into gowns with only his sewing skills - Baldwin is an artist of words.

Overlapping the life stories of John's mother (Elizabeth) and stepfather (Gabriel), together with Gabriel's alienated sister (Florence) against the backdrop of John's 14th birthday, reveals to us the soul and character of the individuals and how their torments and incredible journeys affect and play upon John's coming-of-age manhood rite - which in this case is an out-of-body experience/revelation to the Lord before the congregation at Gabriel's church.

John's 14th birthday will and should never be forgotten by he or the congregation. And, we readers, who are delivered into the secret realms of the tortured pasts of Elizabeth, Gabriel and Florence, can better appreciate and, in turn, should better remember the moment the young John emerges as a man.

In the end, as a less-than-religious person, I asked myself whether Baldwin's constant references to the Bible (the story of Noah and Ham plays a large part in the end in contrast to the tortured relationship between Gabriel and John) and religious revival experience of John are meant to employ others to follow their lead, or to dispel their self-proclaimed truths because of the contradictions between religion and the religious which we have been permitted to learn about in Gabriel and others. But, I would have to conclude that Baldwin leaves that decision to you - but allows you to make the decision knowingly or after having learned about how what Gabriel preaches is not synonymous with what Gabriel lives.

I would give this 6 stars if I could. Few books have touched me as much as this book has.

Remarkable Baldwin.......2007-02-23

Go Tell It on the Mountain is James Baldwin at his best: fiery, passionate, tender and all-seeing. The novel is written so that three of the main characters get a chance to tell their own stories, which heightens the impact of the story of the boy John. There are many reasons why Baldwin is considered one of the greatest twentieth century American writers, and this is one of them.

Baldwin rings our HIS angel's chorus.......2006-12-31

Reality can be a difficult thing to bear. Even those of us that can afford to sit in our plushy chairs and scratch our proverbial backs of creativity by means of writing reviews that ultimately wind up doing nothing more than contributing to this capitalist system and simultaneously stroking our puny egos can admit that there are some--and by some I mean countless--things in life that can bring us grief and send us spiraling down into the pits of depression and madness. Of course, this is all limited to our own specific systematic frameworks. Imagine how it must be for someone that doesn't have a warm home to live in or even a family to support them. Indeed, I've never heard of any third-world teenagers cut their wrists because their significant other of two and a half weeks decided to cut things off. Concepts of "problems" and strife are indeed very malleable according to what is or isn't available to us.

Baldwin, in what is widely considered his best work, presents us (and more specifically his audience of the time) with the problems of a people who in the time in which the novel takes place had a systematic framework of trouble that was far "below" the standards of the referential framework of concern of the average American at the time. And what's more, he presented the public with these images in a time when these people (these people being poor African-Americans) didn't have a distinctive voice to elucidate the tears and pain of their world. Indeed, Baldwin managed to take what many readers of this book would look at today as caricatures and carve them into catalysts of understanding and sometimes even tears.

This novel is split into three sections. The first section is told through the eyes of a child who has unfortunately fallen victim to fate and was born as a poor, gay black male in America. In addition, place him into the most dysfunctional family this side of the Mississippi (or so the reader would think; I'm sure many black families were the same way but only by necessity) and you have an amazingly sympathetic character. It doesn't take long for any reader with half of a heart want to take this poor boy into their arms and hold him tightly while showering him with tears. You also grow to despise the characters--most notably the father figure--that bring such anguish upon such an innocent soul.

However, we are then presented with the second section: The Prayer of the Saints. In this section, we get background information on three of the principal adult characters in the aforementioned section and we soon learn: these people were unfortunate victims of circumstance as well. Like our protagonist, these characters were born into less than ideal family circumstances. However, they share our protagonist's racial and social burden that he has yet to confront personally. All three of these characters face these things and have their ups and downs which ultimately wind up forging them into the figures that you meet in the first chapter. When these prayers have been completed, you are simply unable to look at the characters in the same manner again. See what wonders a little dialogue and honesty can bring to you? However, the average American instead opts to stay detached from these figures and forever shove them into the position of caricature, which ultimately winds up leading vulnerable figures like our protagonist down a road of anger and hatred.

The final section, however, shows some hope of salvation. Though, it is a very ambiguous conclusion. I won't tell you what happens but it spirals into a realm of mysticism and surrealism that this reviewer personally found surprising. However, this is where this strong novel becomes a little weaker. While I can see it working within the context of the story, this surrealism isn't as stimulating as what one could find in say, the stream-of-consciousness exhibited by Faulkner, Pound or any of their perspective contemporaries. However, it is not Baldwin's prerogative to challenge the traditional notions of art. Instead, he simply opts to present us with a world that few ever get to see and great job.

Average customer rating:

Not sure yet
It came true
Simply riveting; 1960s and Today: It holds its power
Great language
WOW! loved this book!

The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Go Tell It on the Mountain
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ASIN: 067974472X
Release Date: 1992-12-01

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 Laskin

Book Description

A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin's early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document. It consists of two "letters," written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism. Described by The New York Times Book Review as "sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle...all presented in searing, brilliant prose," The Fire Next Time stands as a classic of our literature.

Customer Reviews:

Not sure yet.......2007-04-08

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.......2006-12-22

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.......2006-09-16

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.......2006-01-08

Wonderful prose -- use of language.

WOW! loved this book!.......2005-07-23

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!

Average customer rating:

introspective, subtle, but passionate and full of drama
A Masterpiece
An affair of the heart threatened by society's "clutter and disorder"
Although strange and foriegn, its idea is still compelling
"Can we not have a life together?"

Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385334583
Release Date: 2000-06-13

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.

Customer Reviews:

introspective, subtle, but passionate and full of drama.......2007-06-12

"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.......2007-05-25

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".......2006-11-03

"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.......2006-05-04

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.

"Can we not have a life together?".......2006-03-14

"Love him and let him love you."

A young American expatriate in Paris is torn between relationship with a woman and love affair with a man. Set in the 1950s, Giovanni's Room is a man's excruciating repentance, or rather reminiscence, of one particular lie among the many lies he has told in his life. Could it be the first love, or maybe his only love, because David has never for an instant truly forgotten his first love, Giovanni, and the thought of whom often gives a guilty lurch in his stomach. He feels in himself a faint, dreadful stirring of what so overwhelming stirs in him. He meets Giovanni at the bar while his girlfriend Hella vacations in Spain. But David is uneasy about this relationship that is no more than just a sexual escapade with Giovanni. A feeling of contempt and pique conquers him to an extent that fear and anguish have become the surface on which he slips and tumbles. Is David really confused as he claims to be? Or is he just afraid of being despised? He is on a constant struggle for social approbation that he will forfeit his Giovanni's love for him - maybe his love for Giovanni as well? He thinks being with Hella will rescue him from his love for Giovanni.

At first I am not sure how much David cherishes Giovanni until he confesses his irrevocable love for him. That he will never be able to love anyone like he loves Giovanni intensifies his mental struggle with the forbidden love: What kind of life can two men have together? He keeps on fighting his life, fighting his love because he sees no prospect of a life shared by two men. Beneath this struggle for social acceptance is laden with a deep calling to abandon the conventional norms of success, worth, and love. He views this abject terror of desire with interminable cynicism and cruelty.

Giovanni's Room explores the troubling emotions of man's heart with unusual candor and yet with dignity and intensity. It delves into the most controversial issue of morality with an artistry. The most touching and absorbing thing is Giovanni's unconditional love for David, whose fearful intimation opens in him a hatred for Giovanni that is as powerful as his love for him. This love for Giovanni has been meticulously suppressed, and is not recognized until the ineluctable separation, which compounds David's scruple. The loss compounds his regret of not confessing his love. Even though Giovanni is very fond of him already, Giovanni's affection and loyalty do not make him happy or proud, as it should. Aren't we all somehow like David? We always want to wait to make sure the feeling is right, but how can we be sure? To David Love can only be measured by the grief so inconsolable that is concomitant of his loss. To the rest of us it's a message to drop our ego for an ideal relationship.

Fifty Famous Stories Retold (Yesterday's Classics)

Average customer rating:

Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Improve reading skills and historical knowledge.
Interesting stories
An Excellent book for Homeschooling too!
My girls love this book

Fifty Famous Stories Retold (Yesterday's Classics)
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Yesterday's Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1599150069

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.

Customer Reviews:

Fifty Famous Stories Retold.......2007-05-15

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.

Improve reading skills and historical knowledge........2007-01-11

This book has many short stories that are written in such a way that students in my first grade class like to read this, despite the fact that it has no pictures. The stories help students appreciate and want to learn more about history. It's a very exciting book which keeps childrens attention and helps build reading skills.

Interesting stories.......2006-11-10

This book is interesting to adults and children alike. Some stories are familiar, and some, though old stories, will be new to modern readers. It is an easy read and a nice read-aloud, also.

An Excellent book for Homeschooling too!.......2006-09-10

I'm using this book for my 1st grade son as part of our home school program. The stories are short and quick to get through so you can have short lessons. These stories and figures are so often referred to our in literature, sayings and culture that it's a great book for children to read.

My girls love this book.......2006-04-15

This is a great book to read aloud to your children. My girls (age 8 and 6) love this book. They took it with them for their vacation at Grandma's and made Grandma read nearly the whole book in the week they were there.

The fifty stories are short 2 or 3 page stories of famous persons, mostly real, a few fiction.

This book is a GREAT way to introduce important historical figures and a love of history to your children. This would be a great book for a dad to read to his child that would keep them all (dad included) interested.

Average customer rating:

More Notes of a Native Son
Nobody Knows My Name Is Timeless
Great esssays from one of America's best authors
Honest, Critical, Sincere, Moving, Black, Human!!!

Nobody Knows My Name
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

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ASIN: 0679744738
Release Date: 1992-12-01

Book Description

Told with Baldwin's characteristically unflinching honesty, this collection of illuminating, deeply felt essays examines topics ranging from race relations in the United States to the role of the writer in society, and offers personal accounts of Richard Wright, Norman Mailer and other writers.

Customer Reviews:

More Notes of a Native Son.......2004-12-05

Bearing the subtitle "More Notes of a Native Son," "Nobody Knows My Name" is a follow-up to Baldwin's earlier, more famous book. Originally published in national magazines between 1954 and 1961, these essays are more mature, if less biting, than his first collection--and they are certainly just as witty. With one notable exception, they are timeless and trenchant commentaries on racial and cultural issues.

The first group of eight essays focuses on the political and social divides in the United States. The opening article reiterates the discovery he made in "Notes of a Native Son": that by living in Europe he paradoxically discovered what it means to be an American. Others examine the despicable inhumanity of a Harlem public housing project ("cheerless as a prison"), the success of the student movement and the rise of Muslim power in black politics ("a very small echo of the black discontent now abroad in the world"), and the first efforts to integrate Southern public schools ("the entire nation has spent a hundred years avoiding the question of the place of the black man in it"). The two most memorable essays detail the daily bravery, trauma, and humiliations of a schoolboy who is the first black in an all-white school and respond to Faulkner's despicable remarks on race (which were made when Faulkner was seemingly drunk and which were later repudiated when he was atypically sober).

The only disappointing essay is "Princes and Power," an account of Le Congres des Ecrivains et Artistes Noirs (Conference of Negro-African Writers and Artists). The internal disputes and lofty goals of this gathering--convened to consider "the history of Euro-African relations" and the postcolonial "cultural inventory"--did not lack for interest, and Baldwin ably relates the tensions between and cross-purposes of American blacks and Africans. But, overall, he seems to be just phoning it in, muffling the obvious passions of the conference participants and highlighting instead the abstract academic tone.

The second and final group of five essays highlight cultural subjects. He follows a speech detailing the outline for an imaginary novel with biographical appraisals of Andre Gide, Ingmar Bergman, Richard Wright, and Normal Mailer. His eulogy for Wright, initially composed and published in three disparate parts, simultaneously expresses regret for Baldwin's youthful criticism of the older author that resulted in the irreparable destruction of their friendship and recounts Wright's sad social decline: "he had managed to estrange himself from almost all of the younger American Negro writers in Paris ... [who] had discovered that Richard did not really know much about the present dimensions and complexity of the Negro problem here, and, profoundly, did not want to know."

But the gem of the collection is "The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy," Wright's tongue-in-cheek account of his friendship with Normal Mailer, written both as not-so-subtle payback for Mailer's criticism of Baldwin in the self-indulgent "Advertisements for Myself" and as a tribute to Mailer's talent and "responsibility" as an artist. After sending off a number of barbed (yet good-natured) repartees, Baldwin acknowledges not only Mailer's importance as a "very good friend" but also his worth as a writer. Baldwin's assessment of that career serves at as fitting coda to Baldwin's own essays: "His work, after all, is all that will be left when the newspapers are yellowed, all the gossip columnists silenced, and all the cocktail parties over, and when Norman and you and I are dead."

Nobody Knows My Name Is Timeless.......2004-10-08

For my humanities class I was instructed to read an autobiography of my choice. Through shuffling through the library for an autobiography that I can actually read and appreciate I stumbled across this great James Baldwin title. Nobody Knows My Name is a collection of his writing while he was self exiled in Europe. I opened the book with excitment and urgency. As the words regestired in my head I began to realize that the experiences he described articulated exactly how I feel as a black man in American society.
Each essay discussing another aspect of society or the life of a black man in the world I grasped with utter enthusasim. His observations and theories were articulate critical and insightful. James Baldwin's tales of another continent are intising and informative of where our society was and how it is still the same in many ways.
If you are interested in Baldwin's previous writings or African American authors and perspective I know you will enjoy this combiation of essays.

Great esssays from one of America's best authors.......2004-06-19

This collection of essays show James Baldwin as he strives to figure out who he is as a writer, as an American and as a black man. Beginning with his self-imposed exile to Paris in the 1950's, he calls his own identity as both a black man and an American into question. The Conference of Negro-African Writers and Artists which met in 1956 showed him just how different Europeans and Africans viewed cultural identity and hinted at ostracizing the American contingent. And he felt distinctly American in that crowd. Through his essays about returning to Harlem, his criticisms of William Faulkner ("Faulkner and Desegregation"), his review of a work by André Gide, his dealings with author Richard Wright, his friendship with author Norman Mailer ("The Black Boy Looks At the White Boy"), and his interview with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, Baldwin displays his own feelings at finding his own identity as both man and writer in a world that tries to both accet and to reject him at the same time.

Powerful essays from one of America's best authors.

Honest, Critical, Sincere, Moving, Black, Human!!!.......2004-04-02

what i love about baldwin is that he does not have delusions of grandeur about himself - unlike many blacks in the public sphere. this book of essays on society and his personal experiences in the US and abroad is majestic b/c baldwin has a way of writing about complexities of people and societal issues in an introspective yet practical way. although i was impressed with every essay, his essay on richard wright was mindblowing. BUT YOU HAVE TO READ IT FOR YOURSELF! i think it is a great book for black and latin men to read. in doing so many bruhs - if they are honest - will find that they are as similar baldwin as we like to believe are are to malcolm x. either way, you do not go wrong as both were great human beings. in short, i was totally edified by this text. It will easily make my top 10 list - which is very, very, very difficult.

James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories: Go Tell It on a Mountain / Giovanni's Room / Another Country / Going to Meet the Man (Library of America)

Average customer rating:

A valuable edition of some of the best writings on race.

James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories: Go Tell It on a Mountain / Giovanni's Room / Another Country / Going to Meet the Man (Library of America)
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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James Baldwin : Collected Essays : Notes of a Native Son / Nobody Knows My Name / The Fire Next Time / No Name in the Street / The Devil Finds Work / Other Essays (Library of America)
Richard Wright : Later Works: Black Boy [American Hunger], The Outsider (Library of America)
Zora Neale Hurston : Novels and Stories : Jonah's Gourd Vine / Their Eyes Were Watching God / Moses, Man of the Mountain / Seraph on the Suwanee / Selected Stories (Library of America)
Just Above My Head
Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone

ASIN: 1883011515

Amazon.com

A novelist, essayist, playwright, and public intellectual, James Baldwin's writings on the subject of race in America undeniably made him one of the greatest African American writers of the 20th century. As the civil rights movement gained momentum in the two decades following World War II, Baldwin landed squarely in the public eye, and his prose communicated the hope and frustration of the fight for racial equality. In James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories, editor Toni Morrison draws heavily on Baldwin's early work, including his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, as well as Giovanni's Room, which was praised by the New York Times for its "unusual candor ... and intensity." As pertinent today as it was some 30 years ago, the fiction found in this collection is powerful, eloquent, and a fitting tribute to a consummate writer.

Book Description

With burning passion, the authority of experience, and a sharp, epigrammatic wit, these essays articulate issues of race, democracy, and American identity. This edition--the most comprehensive gathering of Baldwin's nonfiction ever published--presents the complete texts of the landmark collections "Notes of a Native Son" (1955) and "Nobody Knows My Name" (1961); "The Fire Next Time" (1963), a classic analysis of America's racial divide; "No Name in the Street" (1972); and "The Devil Finds Work" (1976); and 36 more essays, including nine never before collected.

Customer Reviews:

A valuable edition of some of the best writings on race........1998-04-14

The Library of America is engaged in publishing definitive texts of the best-known writing in the U.S. Including James Baldwin in this series - and having Toni Morrison edit these volumes - has generated considerable critical review. It is remarkable that James Baldwin can still exercise so much hold over us. Both the fiction and the essays have a kind of raw power: it makes us realize how sensitive the nerve of "race relations" still is. "Go Tell It on the Mountain" - one of the early autobiographical stories - has already become an American classic. Baldwin's homosexuality and his ambiguous feelings towards the white establishment makes this a painful coming-of-age novel. There is no easy access to some one so at-odds with himself and his society - and no greater rewards for anyone interested in the literature of self-discovery. These are fine volumes. They are well worth owning and belong on the shelves of anyone interested in American literature. Not all collections are worth having. The Library of America - and these Baldwin volumes - are worth owning, and they are certainly worth reading.

James Baldwin : Collected Essays : Notes of a Native Son / Nobody Knows My Name / The Fire Next Time / No Name in the Street / The Devil Finds Work / Other Essays (Library of America)

Average customer rating:

A must for the Serious Scholar's library
Like Nothing Else You've Read
A great book -- A worthy part of a great series
review
A painful, powerful experience

James Baldwin : Collected Essays : Notes of a Native Son / Nobody Knows My Name / The Fire Next Time / No Name in the Street / The Devil Finds Work / Other Essays (Library of America)
James Baldwin , and Toni Morrison
Manufacturer: Library of America
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James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories: Go Tell It on a Mountain / Giovanni's Room / Another Country / Going to Meet the Man (Library of America)
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Zora Neale Hurston : Novels and Stories : Jonah's Gourd Vine / Their Eyes Were Watching God / Moses, Man of the Mountain / Seraph on the Suwanee / Selected Stories (Library of America)
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Richard Wright : Early Works : Lawd Today! / Uncle Tom's Children / Native Son (Library of America)

ASIN: 1883011523

Amazon.com

Writer James Baldwin earnestly championed the civil rights movement in both his fiction and nonfiction, a fact which, coupled with his extraordinary writing talent, assured not only his historical importance, but also his place as one of the finest African American writers of his generation. Collected Essays is a comprehensive collection of his most memorable prose, including "Stranger in the Village," "The Harlem Ghetto," and "Many Thousands Gone." Clear in voice and vision, the essays communicate the emotions of an entire historical movement. Combining politics, prophecy, and passion, Baldwin's essays are truly as thought-provoking today as they were some 30 years ago.

Customer Reviews:

A must for the Serious Scholar's library.......2006-07-22

This collection of Baldwin's writings is priceless because not only is it a showcase of an agile and fertile mind, it also brings together in a single volume some of his most popular and more famous as well as some of his less formal writings and speeches.

Always well ahead of his times, Baldwin's essays remain fresh and as relevant in today's more quiescent racial times as they were during the more troubled times of his life. They remain fresh because they tell in Baldwin's own inimical and elegant way, the deeper truths about our troubled racial past and present. Most of all they reflect how Baldwin used his quick and restless mind to critique the social and artistic scenes of our troubled era: His strategy, reflected in this collection, was always to mine the substance from the subtext upwards. Those of us who try to mimic his techniques can learn a lot from this and the companion volume of his collected works.

At the same time, Baldwin's psychological analysis remains unerring and at least as sharp as, if not sharper than those of some of his French contemporaries, including his friends and compatriots in the struggle, Franz Fanon and Jean Paul Sartre, who also were both not only revolutionaries and revolutionary thinkers like Baldwin, but also a Psychiatrist and a Philosopher, respectively.

No library on the history of race in America or France is complete without this well designed and well-organized volume. Five stars.

Like Nothing Else You've Read.......2005-06-03

A lot of reviewers have talked about owning this book if you are distinctly interested in collecting works by black authors or in black studies. I think that this book is an essential element to anyone's library, in particular people interested in the craft of writing. Toni Morrison calls Baldwin the greatest essayist of the 20th century and I couldn't agree more.
In this collection of essays, it becomes clear that Baldwin has truly perfected the craft of the essay. Not only is Baldwin's content, his concepts of honesty and truth, of light and dark, right and wrong, of white and black, and much more straight up revolutionary, but he manages to have his content reflected in the craft and style of each essay, which should really be the goal of all writers.
More than anything, Baldwin has an exquisite ability to reveal a complex truth in a simple concise way. All of these essays, indeed all of Baldwin's works, have one common thread. And that is that TRUTH is found within contradiction, because contradiction is honest. I think anyone who browses this page should immediately try and at least check this out of their libary (though it's definitely worth owning, every time I reread it I discover new things) because it really will effect you in meaningful ways.

A great book -- A worthy part of a great series.......2004-02-23

I love James Baldwin--I think he's a tremendous writer, so Toni Morrison could hardly go wrong in selecting essays for this volume. All of the selections are excellent. Notes of a Native Son contains a touching eulogy for Richard Wright ("Alas, Poor Richard"), explaining the lonliness and problems Mr. Wright had at the end of his life. Baldwin displays his tremendous range as both a political commentator and a literary critic. The Devil Finds Work, in particular, is very insightful--and several parts humourous.

What I don't understand--and why I struck a star off this collection--is why Ms. Morrison did not include "Evidence of Things Unseen," Baldwin's analysis of the Atlanta child murders from the early eighties. Perhaps Library of America is planning later volumes of Baldwin's works--The companion volume to these essays is his "Early Novels," most notably "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and "Giovani's Room." I can't imagine that Library of America would not produce a volume including Mr. Baldwin's later works--especially "Just Above my Head."

This particular edition is well worth having--despite the price. First, this is a good collection of Baldwin's essays, many of which are difficult to find. Second, the Library of America really does a commendable job in paper quality and binding. This is not a leather bound edition on 50 pound paper, so stiff you can't open it and printed so the back binding looks impressive on your bookshelf--this is tightly bound, cardboard cover that lies flat, and is easy to read. The paper is not heavy--but acid free, and tear resistant. The Library of America series are good collections that are meant to be read many times, by many people--these books hold up very well.

I am afraid that Mr. Baldwin's works and opinions may fall by the wayside as time passes. The fact that Ms. Morrison--one of our best and most respected authors--put these collections together will certainly help keep Mr. Baldwin's works alive. But if you have any interest in what it means to be African American--in the twenties, to contemporary america--through even tomorrow--You need to read and appreciate Mr. Baldwin's insights. And you will also enjoy his clear, careful, and pointed writing.

review.......2002-05-10

This book was very interesting and i enjoyed the courage of a young black man to stand up for his rights.

A painful, powerful experience.......2001-10-11

In Egypt, I met an extraordinary American.
"I was born in New York, but have only lived in pockets of it. In Paris, I lived in all parts of the city - on the Right Bank and on the Left, among the bourgeoisie and among les miserables, and knew all kinds of people from pimps and prostitutes in Pigalle to Egyptian bankers in Nueilly. This may sound unprincipled or even obscurely immoral: I found it healthy. I love to talk to people, all kinds of people, and almost everyone, as I hope we still know, loves a man who loves to listen," he said.
"The perpetual dealing with people very different from myself caused a shattering in me of preconceptions I scarcely knew I held. This reassessment, which can be very painful, is also very valuable."
His name is Mr. Baldwin, and I cherish this new acquaintance because his ideas have had such profound impact on my views of Egypt. I wanted to know the people, but as I reach out for them, sometimes, I'm shocked by what I see. I see people sleeping on the concrete patios along the Nile - many of them have migrated from the farmlands because they can make more money for their families if they work in Cairo. But desert nights can be bitter cold in January, and it cuts my heart. Yet, Mr. Baldwin's message is well heeded. The same problems of inner city growth that come with development in Egypt also came with development in Britain one hundred years ago. American inner city schools and slums still reflect this challenge.
Would I have walked into the slums of Chicago if I were there? Would I have strolled through the southwest side of Kansas City or east St. Louis? Would I have walked into the anti-developing city blocks of L.A. if I were in America? Of course not. So why is it that traveling abroad opens my eyes to poverty in America? Why couldn't I see it when I was there? I don't know why this happens, but James Baldwin was right - absolutely right when he said that this reassessment, which can be very painful is also very valuable.
I have been told that the housing shortage in Egypt provided the impetus for many people to move into the spacious mausoleums in the old city graveyard. The international visitors call it, "The City of the Dead," and tourists go there and gawk at poverty creating a makeshift freak show out of human suffering. Then I learned that the housing shortage in Los Angeles provided the impetus for many people to move into mausoleums, but no one goes to gawk at them. In fact, there seems to be a kind of American denial that such things could ever happen in the land of milk and honey.
As I hear of people talking about human rights violations in Egypt, I think of the title of James Baldwin's book: Nobody Knows My Name. I think of James Byrd who was dragged to death behind a pickup truck. I think of the threats of millennium violence that frightened black American families so much that they bought guns and stayed home for the New Year. I think of the tiny city in Texas who voted Spanish as their city's official language and then received death threats from all over the nation. Of course, if you asked any American about human rights violations, they would tell you that this is something that happens in China or Africa. It's a painful realization that it might happen in MY country. Growing up in the American school system, I came to idolize Abraham Lincoln's courage and George Washington's integrity. The universal ideas of human value and dignity that we believe to be inalienable are not, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so wisely told us, being applied universally in our country. These facts go against the ideals and values of our nation - they don't support the concepts of the free and the brave.
"It is a complex fate to be an American," Henry James observed. James Baldwin awakened me to that complexity in a way so subtle, so gentle and yet, so powerfully painful.
He awakened me to the hard realities of the American people, most of whom will never read or digest his work. They would dismiss him. But his vision is not to be dismissed. His writing illustrates that the responsibility of this future lies in the hands of blind people. People who refuse to see American neighborhoods and American people for what they really are. We can't improve until we accept the starting point. This lofty ideal of what we should be and blind obstinacy to what we are is killing us.
"Europe has what we do not have yet," Baldwin said. "A sense of the mysterious and inexorable limits of life, a sense, in a word, of tragedy. And we have what they sorely need: a new sense of life's possibilities."
Egypt has what we do not yet have - a clear and present sense of unity - an admiration for sacrifice for the whole of the group - the nuclear family, the extended family, the community. And we have absolutely nothing that Egypt needs, except, if you ask the younger generation: Nike shoes. In fact, this is precisely what Egyptians do not need. They do not need the destructive, greed-inspiring and greed-glorifying economic development of the West.

Book Description

Originally published in 1955, James Baldwin's first nonfiction book has become a classic. These searing essays on life in Harlem, the protest novel, movies, and Americans abroad remain as powerful today as when they were written.

Customer Reviews:

Baldwin is brilliant.......2006-09-16

Baldwin's reasoning, deduction and ability to convey deeply personal thoughts with such command and authority are part of what make this book of essays so riveting.
In "Notes of a Native Son" I began to understand more about the author through his relationship, or lack of relationship, with his father. And in "Equal in Paris or Stranger in the Village," I was transported into a dimension of racial prejudice that I have never experienced through prose before. As powerful today as it was then. A must read.

Classic American essays.......2005-10-19

Originally published in 1955 these essays are now considered American classics. Baldwin writes with tremendous pain, humor, and insight into the situation of what was then , 'the Negro' in America. He writes with insight into the situation of the young writer striving to locate himself in relation to Western civilization as a whole-which he feels he can never wholly belong to as he strives to belong to it. He writes most powerfully about the day of the dying of his father, and the birth of his youngest sister. His description of his own family situation, and of his father's life is instructive of the whole history of insult and injury which had long been the lot of the black in America. His estrangement from his father, and yet understanding of the story of his father's suffering is one of the powerful sections of the book.
It seems to me this book also has an effect unintended and unforeseen by Baldwin. Reading it fifty years later one understands how far America has come in transforming itself in regard to the racial question. Much of the kind of discrimination Baldwin so eloquently describes in for instance his story of his first jobs, does not exist in the same way any more.
In this sense the book also has along with its literary value , value as a historical document.

Greatest American book of essays written in the twentieth century.......2005-10-06

Baldwin writes with a force and an eloquence that will take your breath away mastery--a powerful preacher on the page. What he has to say about the state of race relations in this country is still relevant today, almost half a century after this book was first published. I consider Baldwin our greatest twentieth-century African American writer and one of the greatest American writers ever. He is courageous, passionate, visionary, and a masterful writer.

brilliant, vivid, and incisive insights that shd be read.......2005-07-14

This is an absolutely wonderful book of essays about growing up, making a career, and being black in the US in the 1950-60s. Just the chapter on his step-father - an angry, brilliant, difficult man - is worth the price of admission. Beyond the black experience, everyone who has fought with a tough dad will empathise with Baldwin. Then there is a piece on living in France as a young writer, again it is unbelievably dense, funny, and moving, a true masterpiece of the genre of autobiographical essays. His style is so cool and clear, so icily brilliant, that any aspiring writer can study the style, as did I.

This book, in my opinion, has Baldwin's best work in it, of a quality that earns him a place in the literary canon. The essays really are far far better than any of his novels, in my opinion. While some of them are less than excellent journalistic pieces (A Fly in the Buttermilk about school integration), the best ones are, well, the best.

Warmly recommended.

Angry, humorous, reflective essays on being a black American.......2004-10-24

The ten essays in this collection were originally published in Commentary, Partisan Review, Harper's, and other national periodicals during the late 1940s and early 1950s; Baldwin revised a few essays, arranged them by theme, and added "Autobiographical Notes" as a preface. They are among the most compelling, insightful pieces ever written on what it means to be an American and, in particular, what means to be a black American. "The story of the Negro in America is the story of America," Baldwin writes, "or, more precisely, it is the story of Americans. It is not a pretty story: the story of a people is never very pretty."

"Everybody's Protest Novel" and "Many Thousands Gone" both discuss the portrayal of blacks in American fiction (beginning with "Uncle Tom's Cabin") and contain harsh criticism of Richard Wright's "Native Son"--comments which permanently ended their tempestuous friendship. Baldwin next directs his ire (and wit) at the ridiculous stereotypes in the all-black film "Carmen Jones." These are not mere reviews, however; the strength of these three essays is Baldwin's ability to offer general comments about societal matters based on a few examples. The second essay is particularly noteworthy because Baldwin writes as if he, like most of his readers, were white. This technique allow him to imply that, on the one hand, as a native-born American, he can easily comprehend the view of the "dominant" culture, yet, on the other hand, the black experience is something white Americans will never understand--that the majority assumption is "that the black man, to become truly human and acceptable, must first become like us."

The next three essays offer social commentary. "The Harlem Ghetto" describes life in Baldwin's neighborhood, examines the importance of the Negro press, and (undoubtedly with the readers of Commentary in mind) focuses especially on the ongoing tensions between Jews and blacks. In "Journey to Atlanta," Baldwin tells how his brother's church quartet was sent by the Progressive Party to Atlanta, ostensibly to sing at church events, but inevitably as free labor for canvassing activities--with no pay, poor lodging, and substandard food. In the end, the four young men were left to fend for themselves, struggling to earn money for their tickets back to New York. The final essay, "Notes of a Native Son," is a poignant eulogy for Baldwin's stepfather, including a hair-raising account of Baldwin's near-suicidal attempt to rebel again Jim Crow rules in New Jersey.

Baldwin's life in Europe takes up the last section. The first three essays describe the "social limbo" that greets Americans--white and black--in Paris and the "invisibility" of American blacks there; it includes the horrifying account of Baldwin's arrest and imprisonment for a hotel bedsheet stolen by an acquaintance. The final essay ends the collection on a humorous, sometimes touching, and ultimately contemplative note: what it's like to be not simply the only black man living in a Swiss resort but the only black man most of the villagers have ever seen. Baldwin realizes that "no road whatever will lead Americans back to the simplicity of this European village where white men still have the luxury of looking at me as a stranger."

What's astonishing about these essays is the balance between Baldwin's justified rage and his ability to laugh at the world--and at himself. Many of the essays resemble short stories in their structure and tension and humor, and Baldwin's writing is just as strong when he's angry as when he's lighthearted. Most important, none of these essays have dated in any significant way, and they still offer stirring insights on race and society in America.

Average customer rating:

Sex and race in the American bohemia
Interesting, Intense, Involving, Intelligent, Insightful, etc...
Self-indulgent reiteration of what Baldwin's stated several times already
Another Country
A Deep and Emotional Experience

Another Country
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Go Tell It on the Mountain
Giovanni's Room (Penguin Modern Classics)
Going to Meet the Man: Stories
Notes of a Native Son (Beacon Paperback)
The Fire Next Time

ASIN: 0679744711
Release Date: 1992-12-01

Book Description

Set in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and France, among other locales, Another Country is a novel of passions--sexual, racial, political, artistic--that is stunning for its emotional intensity and haunting sensuality, depicting men and women, blacks and whites, stripped of their masks of gender and race by love and hatred at the most elemental and sublime. In a small set of friends, Baldwin imbues the best and worst intentions of liberal America in the early 1970s.

Customer Reviews:

Sex and race in the American bohemia.......2007-01-26

In an essay criticizing the works of Richard Wright, James Baldwin surveyed the field of African American literature and found much violence, but very little sex. As biographer James Campbell notes, "Another Country" is Baldwin's attempt to fill that perceived void; it has plenty of "sex" (from lust to romance), and it explores in particular an era in which the intersection of sex and race was increasingly capturing the public's attention.

The storyline concerns six people who are in some way connected to Rufus Scott, a jazz drummer whose suicide affects their lives in unpredictable and emotional ways. There are a straight white couple (the novelist Richard and his wife Cass), a mixed-race couple (Rufus's sister, Ida, and the writer Vivaldo), a gay couple (Eric and Yves), and an unexpected affair between two of the six friends.

The opening chapter in particular is one of Baldwin's most potent, combining both the violence of Wright's novels and the sex Baldwin felt was missing. The rest of the book is a rollercoaster of emotional highs and everyday life. The prose sours when Baldwin describes both the frayed lives of his characters and the steamy streets and seedy watering holes of Manhattan. And the lyrical treatment of Eric and Yves's relationship is especially affecting. The book was a huge best-seller when it was published, and I imagine it's this cutting-edge blend of controversy and passion that appealed to readers in the mid-1960s

But then there's the sex. By today's standard's, the descriptions are hardly explicit. Yet, unfortunately, these passages are so appallingly bad it's hard to believe that Baldwin wrote them: "He felt the bed throbbing beneath them, and heard it sing." "He began to gallop her, whinnying a little with delight, and, for the first time, became a little cold with fright...."--well, I'll spare you the rest.

It would be a mistake, however, to dismiss the book because of these scenes. The characters are both believable and unforgettable, the racial and sexual tensions are recognizably human, and the social milieu is still familiar to anyone who has lived near or in the bohemian neighborhoods of America.

Interesting, Intense, Involving, Intelligent, Insightful, etc..........2007-01-22

I just finished this novel and I have to say that I was blown away by Baldwin's writing. I disagree with one of the reviewers who wrote that this should be required text for high school or jr. high students. For one thing, the subject matter is way too mature for their brains to digest at such a young age. This is a novel for intelligent adults with an open mind. If you are a homophobe or have any racism residing in your heart then don't read this novel, because you will not enjoy it whatsoever. If I would have read this before the age of thirty I would not have liked it and probably wouldn't have finished reading it(this is unequivocally a very adult novel). That being said, you will be hard-pressed to find a more gritty, brilliant, fiercly told story than this one. I personally believe that the dialogue between the main charactiers is excellent and very real. As complex, flawed, and often times even repugnant the main characters are, you still can't help but to care about each one of them as if they were your friend or loved one. This is the beauty of this novel in my opinion - Baldwin's ability to really develop each character. This is definitely a novel that is character-driven and upon finishing the novel you can't help but feel a bit disheartened knowing that your time spent with them is now over. It leaves you yearning for more!

This is my first novel by Baldwin and I am off to the bookstore (sorry Amazon, I just can't wait) to purchase a few more (Go Tell It On A Mountain will be my next). He was such a brilliant, brave, unique writer who displays so much courage in his prose that it's impossible to not admire the man. Also, I really enjoy reading authors like this who paint a completely different picture of Americana than we are typically accustomed to (i.e. Kerouac, Bukowski, Vonnegut, etc...).

Overall, the book was great. Once you get into it (for me it started on page 1) it's very difficult to put down no matter how heavy and often times disturbing it can be. However, racism is always disturbing no matter how you slice it. Baldwin just doesn't slice it in thin easy to digest pieces that's all. So if you want to read a 'nice', 'sweet' interacial love story don't purchase this. However, if you want to challenge yourself and allow your mind to expand and actually THINK, then by all means this is the perfect book for you.

Self-indulgent reiteration of what Baldwin's stated several times already.......2005-12-01

If you follow the trajectory of James Baldwin's writing, you'll see that he established certain themes, then reiterated them in a variety of settings. His themes are pertinent and show great insight, but if you were to read two or three of his books, by the time you got to the third, you'd say, "O.k., I get it already."
Such is the case with Another Country. If you've read any Baldwin, thematically it's nothing you haven't heard before. But, his earlier novels were clearly stated, concise, and powerful as a result. This novel is an unbelievably bloated mess which easily could have been half the length and still gotten its points across. Every single scene goes on way too long, the dialogue between the characters is interminable and pedantic, and there is an element of melodrama better served in soap operas.
Baldwin has said that this was the novel that meant the most to him, which is further proof that artists aren't necessarily the best judges of their work. Go Tell It On The Mountain is a masterpiece and most indicative of Baldwin's considerable literary powers, and I would recommend you read that or Giovanni's Room, which is less powerful, but eloquent and substantial. Another Country is a slog that doesn't repay in substance the efforts necessary to get through it.

Another Country.......2005-03-18

I just finished reading Another Country. This book should be required reading for Jr. High or High School students. I was born in 1970 and didn't witness the civil rights movement. Many of my generation feel that racism is not a serious issue anymore. Though this book was written before I was born, some of the same thoughts and ideaology mentioned are still prevalent today. As an African American man, I know that racism still excist today as it did in the 60's. With Blacks, at times, as the perpetrators. This was the case with Ida. A black woman in a relationship with a white man. She new that this man loved her. She loved him, but the racial hatred that she had been exposed to in her life prevented her from seeing anything other than the color of Vilvado's skin.

Baldwin was certainly ahead of his time and Another Country is just as timely today as it was in the 60's and 70's.

A Deep and Emotional Experience.......2005-02-05

Like many of the other reviewers of this book, when I began to read this book I truly believed my mind to be as open as it could be. 400 pages later, I was on my way to a whole new spectrum of thought and perception about racial and sexual identity. This book made me cry 10 or 15 times and I became so attached to all of the characters that I found myself scouring the internet when I finished in the vain hope that Baldwin had written another book that picked up the stories of their lives at some point in the future. Unfortunately, it seems as though he did not, but that's life...a snapshot of time that means whatever it means to anyone who happens to observe it in action or in history. This book really taught me something about love, hate, struggle, and really gave me my first opportunity to view the world from the eyes of a gay African American man. No book could ever capture that experience fully, but this one at least gave me an idea of what it might be like, and I found myself as drawn into the allure of exploring a completely different lifestyle as much as the characters inside were.

I absolutely loved this book and it definitely had a positive impact on my life. I'm sure that sounds cliche, but it really did teach me more than a thing or two about human beings and gave a great snapshot of the '50s, much like On The Road by Jack Kerouac, but from a very different perspective.

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