James Baldwin






James Baldwin

author profile


born
August 06, 1924

died
November 30, 1987

gender
male

place of birth
Harlem, New York, NY, The United States

genre
Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry


about this author

James Baldwin offered a vital literary voice during the era of civil rights activism in the 1950s and '60s. The eldest of nine children, his stepfather was a minister. At age 14, Baldwin became a preacher at the small Fireside Pentecostal Church in Harlem. In the early 1940s, he transferred his faith from religion to literature. Critics, however, note the impassioned cadences of Black churches are still evident in his writing. Go Tell It on the Mountain, his first novel, is a partially autobiographical account of his youth. His essay collections Notes of a Native Son, Nobody Knows My Name, and The Fire Next Time were influential in informing a large white audience.

From 1948, Baldwin made his home primarily in the south of Fr...more




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avg rating: 4.17 | 13,820 ratings | 1,240 reviews | 87 distinct works | 78 fans
Giovanni's Room Giovanni's Room
by James Baldwin
avg rating 4.19 — 2,609 ratings — published 1940
18 editions
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Go Tell It on the Mountain Go Tell It on the Mountain
by James Baldwin
avg rating 3.93 — 2,106 ratings — published 1952
16 editions
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The Fire Next Time The Fire Next Time
by James Baldwin
avg rating 4.30 — 1,484 ratings — published 1963
13 editions
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Another Country Another Country
by James Baldwin
avg rating 4.33 — 1,433 ratings — published 1962
19 editions
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If Beale Street Could Talk If Beale Street Could Talk
by James Baldwin
avg rating 4.08 — 720 ratings — published 1974
17 editions
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Notes of a Native Son Notes of a Native Son
by James Baldwin
avg rating 4.25 — 677 ratings — published 1963
9 editions
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Going to Meet the Man: Stories Going to Meet the Man: Stories
by James Baldwin
avg rating 4.25 — 480 ratings — published 1965
10 editions
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Sonny's Blues Sonny's Blues
by James Baldwin
avg rating 4.30 — 430 ratings — published 1994
3 editions
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Tell Me How Long the Train's B... Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
by James Baldwin
avg rating 4.10 — 353 ratings — published 1968
7 editions
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James Baldwin : Collected Essa... 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
by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison
avg rating 4.54 — 308 ratings — published 1998
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"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive."
James Baldwin
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"Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up."
James Baldwin
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"I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain."
James Baldwin (The Fire Next Time)
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