27 books based on 61 votes: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, Another Country by James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mo.
James Baldwin, in full James Arthur Baldwin, (born 2, 1924, New York—died December 1, 1987, Saint-Paul, France), American essayist, novelist, and playwright whose eloquence and passion on the subject of race in made him an important voice, particularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the United States and, later, through much of western Europe.The eldest of nine children, he grew up in poverty in the black ghetto of in New York City. From age 14 to 16 he was active during out-of-school hours as a preacher in a small revivalist church, a period he wrote about in his semiautobiographical first and finest, (1953), and in his about a woman evangelist, The Amen Corner (performed in New York City, 1965).After graduation from, he began a restless period of ill-paid jobs, self-study, and literary apprenticeship in, the bohemian quarter of New York City. He left in 1948 for Paris, where he lived for the next eight years. (In later years, from 1969, he became a self-styled “transatlantic commuter,” living alternatively in the south of and in New York and New England.) His second novel, (1956), deals with the white world and concerns an American in Paris torn between his love for a man and his love for a woman. Between the two novels came a collection of essays, Notes of a Native Son (1955).
Though Baldwin continued to write until his death—publishing works including Going to Meet the Man (1965), a collection of short stories; the novels Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968), If Beale Street Could Talk (1974), and Just Above My Head (1979); and The Price of the Ticket (1985), a collection of autobiographical writings—none of his later works achieved the popular and critical success of his early work. This article was most recently revised and updated by, Corrections Manager.