James Baldwin's eminence as a man of letters is now well established; indeed, his books, essays, and numerous other pieces attest to the truth of Benjamin DeMott's statement that "this author retains a place in an extremely select group: that comprised...

James Baldwin emerged in the 1960s as one of America's most gifted writers and one of black America's most articulate spokesmen. Although he is primarily a novelist, Baldwin has also published essays, plays, and short stories. Critics generally agree...

When he died on 1 December 1987, James Baldwin was remembered as a prophet who addressed the causes and results of racial conflict. He spent his entire literary career writing essays, speeches, stories, two plays, and six novels about the inherent...

James Baldwin was a novelist, playwright and essayist, but to many Americans he was known as a spokesman for blacks who grew up during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Baldwin rejected the title of "spokesman," preferring to be called...

A self-proclaimed disturber of the peace and subversive outsider whose modest goal was to change the world, James Baldwin is considered one of the most important American writers since World War II. As Horace A. Porter noted in his critical study,...

As novelist, essayist, dramatist and social critic, James Baldwin's books and numerous other pieces attest not only to a sustained prolificacy but also to a consistent perspicacity. Alternately praised and derided by blacks and whites alike, Baldwin's...

In the preface to his 1968 publication of The Amen Corner (produced 1955), James Baldwin comments, in typically forthright fashion, that at the time of writing the play--in the early beginnings of his formation as not only the most significant African...

James Baldwin's eminence as a man of letters is now well established; indeed, his books, essays, and other pieces attest to the truth of Benjamin DeMott's statement that "this author retains a place in an extremely select group: that comprised of the...

The author James Arthur Baldwin (1924-1987) achieved international recognition for his bold expressions of African American life in the United States. James Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York City, on August 2, 1924, the oldest of nine children. His...