James Baldwin

Born

in Harlem, New York, The United States

August 02, 1924

Died

November 30, 1987

Genre

Fiction, Politics, Poetry

Influences

Richard Wright, Countee Cullen ...more

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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. He was 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 yo ...more

Combine Editions
James Baldwin’s books

Average rating: 4.28 · 296,843 ratings · 24,284 reviews · 183 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Fire Next Time 4.50 avg rating — 64,369 ratings — published 1963 — 72 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Giovanni's Room 4.23 avg rating — 68,368 ratings — published 1956 — 110 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Go Tell It on the Mountain 4.01 avg rating — 54,486 ratings — published 1953 — 93 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	If Beale Street Could Talk 4.26 avg rating — 34,831 ratings — published 1974 — 91 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Another Country 4.30 avg rating — 16,609 ratings — published 1962 — 68 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Notes of a Native Son 4.37 avg rating — 14,752 ratings — published 1955 — 40 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sonny's Blues 4.26 avg rating — 5,228 ratings — published 1957 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Going to Meet the Man 4.36 avg rating — 5,017 ratings — published 1965 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin, Raoul Peck (Editor) 4.49 avg rating — 3,987 ratings — published 2017 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Nobody Knows My Name 4.35 avg rating — 2,917 ratings — published 1961 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by James Baldwin…

Pulitzer Prize–winning literary critic Michiko Kakutani, the former chief book critic of The New York Times, is the author of the newly...

Quotes by James Baldwin

“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, who had ever been alive.”
― James Baldwin

tags: books, empathy, pain, reading

7279 likes

“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 A. Baldwin

tags: love

5177 likes

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.”
― James Baldwin

3717 likes

See all James Baldwin's quotes »

Polls

Which classic work would you like to read with the "Reading for Pleasure group" during January and February 2019? Please vote here.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

66 votes, 33.2%

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

49 votes, 24.6%

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

34 votes, 17.1%

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

23 votes, 11.6%

The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

18 votes, 9.0%

Anna of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett

9 votes, 4.5%

199 total votes

6 comments

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