Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings
by
James Baldwin,
Randall Kenan (Goodreads Author)
The Cross of Redemption is a revelation by an American literary master: a gathering of essays, articles, polemics, reviews, and interviews that have never before appeared in book form.
James Baldwin was one of the most brilliant and provocative literary figures of the past century, renowned for his fierce engagement with issues haunting our common history. In The Cross of R...more
James Baldwin was one of the most brilliant and provocative literary figures of the past century, renowned for his fierce engagement with issues haunting our common history. In The Cross of R...more
Hardcover, 336 pages
Published
August 24th 2010
by Pantheon
(first published 2010)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
303)
I've been a big fan of James Baldwin since I was a kid. Growing up in a Christian school and with religious grandparents, I attended Sunday service faithfully. It wasn't until I read Baldwin's essay, recounting his childhood experience at a revival sermon, that I found the words to express my experience (or lack thereof) in the black church.
I went on to read Go, Tell It on the Mountain, Giovanni's Room, Another Country, The Fire Next Time, and my all-time favorite--If Beale Street Could Talk (a...more
I went on to read Go, Tell It on the Mountain, Giovanni's Room, Another Country, The Fire Next Time, and my all-time favorite--If Beale Street Could Talk (a...more
"Uncollected Writings" feels almost like an excuse after reading the book. Baldwin's work here isn't shoddy so much as uninteresting -- this is a collection of him exploring the same thoughts he did in his other nonfiction, but without as much power, fire, or nuance as his better-known works. Which makes sense; these were not written with the same ends in mind as The Fire Next Time or Notes of a Native Son, and it often feels as though in Cross of Redemption that Baldwin is working out where he...more
Despite being labeled as "bill-paying work" (Los Angeles Times), the items collected here provide an illuminating portrait of the writer and his times, but the fragmented nature of the material poses its own set of problems: several critics faulted these pieces as uneven, repetitive, and at times pompous and histrionic. Nevertheless, this wide-ranging collection underscores Baldwin's passion, intellect, and the moral force with which he lived his life. Baldwin's legacy is his writing, by which "...more
James Baldwin's works are imbued with the passion and pain that fueled a dehumanized generation. His essays in this remarkable collection are heavy in content, but Baldwin perhaps conveys the idea of Civil Rights and the inequality which permeated his life better than any of his contemporaries. He synthesizes Malcolm X's anger, Martin Luther King's idealism, with powerful philosophical ideas which trump the formers; both in articulation and the ideas themselves. Baldwin's homosexuality as an Afr...more
I'm biased about James Baldwin, because reading his voice as a teenager (among many others) fed my passion to write. So I was looking forward to reading the advance copy of this book, which will be released in August. It reveals Baldwin in all of his elegance, and clarity, his insightful struggling to be "an honest man and a good writer." The more time passes, the more I respect and love him and wish I could have taken one of his classes. This volume includes a profile of Floyd Patterson & o...more
Baldwin in a nutshell: he talks about race as it relates to the private lives of individuals. And he does so with unmatched lyricism and great moral conviction.
If you're into that sort of thing, this book of disparate writings works well as a sort of portable motivational tool. The thing is, Baldwin covers a lot of the same ground in many of his essays. If you're reading this straight through, you'll start to see some repetition.
What I did was keep it in my laptop bag for a few months. Whenever...more
If you're into that sort of thing, this book of disparate writings works well as a sort of portable motivational tool. The thing is, Baldwin covers a lot of the same ground in many of his essays. If you're reading this straight through, you'll start to see some repetition.
What I did was keep it in my laptop bag for a few months. Whenever...more
"An absorbing portrait of Baldwin's time - and of him", The New York Review of Books state on the cover of The Cross of Redemption - a collection of essays, reviews, speeches and letters by the American author. And this is very true; Baldwin tells us of the American psyche and conscience spanning from the '50s to the '80s, painting the sharp details of the prejudice and fears that were eating the public's hearts, then as well as nowadays. He tells of the American dream, which is exactly that - a...more
This is a collection of Baldwin's essays, speeches, and reviews that were never published. None of these are in the Library of America edition of his Collected Essays, and in reading them I really wondered why not. Maybe there were space considerations. But whatever the reason, I can only say that, having read this, one can really only pull quotes from it with the suggestion that everything the man ever wrote, 'collected' or 'un-', is worth reading.
Baldwin's is often pigeon-holed as 'race writi...more
Baldwin's is often pigeon-holed as 'race writi...more
It's tough to evaluate this collection, because on the one hand James Baldwin is awesome, and on the other this wasn't exactly curated, if you know what I mean. There are some really wonderful pieces here, but the nature of the work presented in The Cross of Redemption, and especially in the section devoted to essays and speeches, makes the work seem repetitive and didactic. Well, I guess James Baldwin is always going to be didactic-in-a-good-way, but because there was no organic organizing prin...more
I read this collection on a long plane flight and it made for an excellent companion. These writings are mostly book reviews, speech transcripts, and commentary. Baldwin was strongly opinionated and stylishly plainspoken. Because of the nature of the collection, I kept hoping for more sustained discussion, but it's new Baldwin, and that's always worth reading.
Baldwin is one of our greatest bullshit detectors. There are a handful of essential essays here--"Mass Culture and the Creative Artist," "The Artist's Struggle for Integrity," and "The Uses of the Blues," to name some--that I'll re-read to help keep myself honest as a writer, man, and citizen. And as Baldwin reminds us, there cannot not be the lived tension of despair and joy in that.
was actually kind of boring, I should've chosen the collection of writings by his actual books.
Aug 05, 2011
Daryl Grigsby
marked it as to-read
will be hunting for this tommorrow - jimmy baldwin was a true prophet
These essays were "uncollected" for a reason.
Apr 08, 2013
Catherine
added it
This isn't my favourite Baldwin book, but it has its moments. It includes essays, reviews, speeches and interviews written between 1947 and 1984. I liked in particular 'The Fire This Time: A letter to the Bishop' and 'The Fight: Patterson vs Liston'.
Aug 29, 2010
Lynecia
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
uncle-james,
memoirs-bios
Uncle Jimmy still lives!
This book fueled many inter-meeting landscapes with a pounding of fists on the table. Baldwin always was and always will be what needs to be said.
1/6/11 Roomie picked up at coffee shop. I am to read first. Yippee!
possibly never to finish this collection
Available in March 2010.
May 20, 2013
Nuri
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Crystal
is currently reading it
Mar 30, 2013
Shawn Gude
marked it as to-read
Mar 28, 2013
Wayne
is currently reading it
Mar 28, 2013
Lisa
marked it as to-read
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trading Baldwin | 1 | 3 | Oct 21, 2010 12:23pm |
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.
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, Bal...more
More about James Baldwin...
James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.
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, Bal...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“America sometimes resembles, at least from the point of view of a black man, an exceedingly monotonous minstrel show; the same dances, same music, same jokes. One has done (or been) the show so long that one can do it in one’s own sleep.”
—
6 people liked it
“Now, one hears from a long time ago that "white is merely a state of mind." I add to that, white is a moral choice. It's up to you to be as white as you want to be and pay the price of that ticket. You cannot tell a black man by the color of skin, either. But this is a democracy.”
—
5 people liked it
More quotes…
Jan 03, 2011 06:05am
Jan 04, 2011 12:26am