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James Baldwin (1) [1924–1987]

This page covers the author of Go Tell It on the Mountain.

For other authors named James Baldwin, see the disambiguation page.

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James Baldwin was born on August 2, 1924, in New York. Baldwin's father was a pastor who subjected his children to poverty, abuse, and religious fanaticism. As a result, many of Baldwin's recurring themes, such as alienation and rejection, are attributable to his upbringing. Living the life of a starving artist, Baldwin went through numerous jobs, including dishwasher, office boy, factory worker, and waiter. In 1948, he moved to France, where much work originated. Baldwin published Go Tell It on the Mountain in 1953. A largely autobiographical work, it tells of the religious awakening of a fourteen-year-old. In addition to his childhood experiences, his experiences as a black man and a homosexual provided inspiration for such works as Giovanni's Room, Nobody Knows My Name, and Another Country. Baldwin holds a distinguished place in American history as one of the foremost writers of both black and gay literature. He was an active participant in the Civil Rights movement. Baldwin succumbed to cancer on December 1, 1987. (Bowker Author Biography) — biography from Go Tell It on the Mountain… (more)
Go Tell It on the Mountain 5,372 copies, 107 reviews
Giovanni's Room 4,941 copies, 114 reviews
The Fire Next Time 4,375 copies, 118 reviews
Another Country 2,704 copies, 40 reviews
If Beale Street Could Talk 1,861 copies, 57 reviews
Notes of a Native Son 1,833 copies, 28 reviews
Going to Meet the Man: Stories 866 copies, 13 reviews
Just Above My Head 639 copies, 4 reviews
Blues for Mister Charlie: A Play 532 copies, 5 reviews
No Name in the Street 406 copies, 3 reviews
The Evidence of Things Not Seen 323 copies, 2 reviews
The Devil Finds Work: An Essay 310 copies, 4 reviews
Sonny's Blues and Other Stories 238 copies, 4 reviews
The Amen Corner: A Play 198 copies, 4 reviews
A Rap on Race 184 copies
Dark Days {essays} 108 copies, 2 reviews
Jimmy's Blues and Other Poems 99 copies, 2 reviews
I Am Not Your Negro {2016 film} (Writer) 80 copies, 4 reviews
Vintage Baldwin 79 copies
Nothing Personal: An Essay (Author) 50 copies, 2 reviews
Nothing Personal {1964 original} (Author) 44 copies, 1 review
A Dialogue (Author) 34 copies, 1 review
The Art of the Personal Essay (Contributor) 1,308 copies, 8 reviews
The Best American Essays of the Century (Contributor) 736 copies, 4 reviews
The Oxford Book of American Short Stories (Contributor) 712 copies, 3 reviews
Points of View: Revised Edition (Contributor) 395 copies, 5 reviews
If They Come in the Morning: Voices of Resistance (Contributor) 388 copies, 1 review
The Granta Book of the American Short Story (Contributor) 362 copies, 1 review
The Faber Book of Gay Short Fiction (Contributor) 318 copies
The Portable Sixties Reader (Contributor) 312 copies, 3 reviews
Americans in Paris: A Literary Anthology (Contributor) 285 copies, 3 reviews
Writing New York: A Literary Anthology (Contributor) 265 copies, 4 reviews
The Treasury of American Short Stories (Contributor) 253 copies, 1 review
100 Years of The Best American Short Stories (Contributor) 250 copies, 3 reviews
Modern American Memoirs (Contributor) 180 copies, 2 reviews
Daddy Was a Number Runner (Foreword, some editions) 157 copies, 2 reviews
American Religious Poems: An Anthology (Contributor) 156 copies, 1 review
New York Stories (Everyman's Pocket Classics) (Contributor, some editions) 143 copies, 5 reviews
The Norton Book of Personal Essays (Contributor) 141 copies, 1 review
The Gates of Paradise (Contributor) 109 copies, 2 reviews
Rotten English: A Literary Anthology (Contributor) 70 copies, 1 review
200 Years of Great American Short Stories (Contributor) 62 copies, 1 review
American Negro Short Stories (Contributor) 56 copies
Fifty Best American Short Stories 1915-1965 (Contributor) 37 copies, 1 review
Partisan Review (Contributor, some editions) 33 copies
The Best American Short Stories 1968 (Contributor) 32 copies
Hot and Cool: Jazz Short Stories (Contributor) 28 copies
Harlem U.S.A. (Contributor) 27 copies
One World of Literature (Contributor) 23 copies
Classic Essays in English (Contributor) 22 copies
Studies in Fiction (Contributor) 22 copies, 1 review
The Best American Short Stories 1961 (Contributor) 10 copies
Antaeus No. 62, Spring 1989 (Contributor) 10 copies
100 years of emancipation (Contributor) 10 copies
Short Fiction: Shape and Substance (Contributor) 3 copies
Introduction to Fiction (Contributor) 1 copy

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Short biography
- James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist. His essays, as collected in Notes of a Native Son (1955), explore intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western society, most notably in regard to the mid-twentieth-century United States. Some of Baldwin's essays are book-length, including The Fire Next Time (1963), No Name in the Street (1972), and The Devil Finds Work (1976). An unfinished manuscript, Remember This House, was expanded and adapted for cinema as the Academy Award–nominated documentary film I Am Not Your Negro (2016). One of his novels, If Beale Street Could Talk, was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning dramatic film of the same name in 2018, directed and produced by Barry Jenkins. Baldwin's novels, short stories, and plays fictionalize fundamental personal questions and dilemmas amid complex social and psychological pressures. Themes of masculinity, sexuality, race, and class intertwine to create intricate narratives that run parallel with some of the major political movements toward social change in mid-twentieth-century America, such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Gay Liberation Movement. As such, Baldwin's protagonists are often, but not exclusively, African American, while gay and bisexual men also frequently feature as protagonists in his literature. These characters often face internal and external obstacles in their search for social and self-acceptance. Such dynamics are prominent in Baldwin's second novel, Giovanni's Room, written in 1956. -dlduncan

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