James Baldwin

Originally published in 1955, James Baldwin's first nonfiction book has become a classic. These searing essays on life in Harlem, the protest novel, movies, and Americans abroad remain as powerful today as when they were written. "He named for me the things you feel but couldn't utter. . . . Jimmy's essays articulated for the first time to white America what it meant to be American and a black American at the same time." -Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Notes of a Native Son

#26 on The Guardian's list of 100 best nonfiction books of all time, the essays explore what it means to be Black in America In an age of Black Lives Matter, James Baldwin's essays on life in Harlem, the protest novel, movies, and African Americans abroad are as powerful today as when they were first written. With films like I Am Not Your Negro and the forthcoming If Beale Street Could Talk bringing renewed interest to Baldwin's life and work, Notes of a Native Son serves as a valuable introduction. Written during the 1940s and early 1950s, when Baldwin was only in his twenties, the essays collected in Notes of a Native Son capture a view of black life and black thought at the dawn of the civil rights movement and as the movement slowly gained strength through the words of one of the most captivating essayists and foremost intellectuals of that era. Writing as an artist, activist, and social critic, Baldwin probes the complex condition of being black in America. With a keen eye, he examines everything from the significance of the protest novel to the motives and circumstances of the many black expatriates of the time, from his home in “The Harlem Ghetto” to a sobering “Journey to Atlanta.” Notes of a Native Son inaugurated Baldwin as one of the leading interpreters of the dramatic social changes erupting in the United States in the twentieth century, and many of his observations have proven almost prophetic. His criticism on topics such as the paternalism of white progressives or on his own friend Richard Wright’s work is pointed and unabashed. He was also one of the few writing on race at the time who addressed the issue with a powerful mixture of outrage at the gross physical and political violence against black citizens and measured understanding of their oppressors, which helped awaken a white audience to the injustices under their noses. Naturally, this combination of brazen criticism and unconventional empathy for white readers won Baldwin as much condemnation as praise. Notes is the book that established Baldwin’s voice as a social critic, and it remains one of his most admired works. The essays collected here create a cohesive sketch of black America and reveal an intimate portrait of Baldwin’s own search for identity as an artist, as a black man, and as an American.

elif sinem

"This world is white no longer, and it will never be white again."

Rose Stanley

Luke Kanies

A fantastic, hard, important book about black people, white people, and what really makes America special.

Obviously dated in many ways -- no computers, written during Jim Crow, in a much less worldly time -- but just as relevant today as it was when written in 1955.

I wasn't expecting the complexity of language, like I was reading an academic book, or a book written for a very different kind of audience. I don't know if our written language has just changed that much in 60 years, that's his writing style, or what, but I could always feel the writing through the book.

Every essay was deep, was wandering, forcing me through a constricting experience to enable me, just at the end, often only in a paragraph or two closing a many paged essay, what he thinks and sees.

A truly great book, and truly American. I am not so shallow as to suggest I understand, but hopefully I understand more. Certainly I can think more deeply about the role and perspective of at least the black man (for that is principally what he addresses) in America.

Jade Flynn

3.5/5 Insightful and poetic. It is clear Baldwin was a gifted writer. For me, the first three essays discussing films didn't really connect with me at all. The second and third section which examined Baldwin's personal experiences in both the US and France were phenomenal. 

Favourites - A Question of Identity, Equal in Paris, Notes of a Native Son & Encounter on the Seine: Black meets Brown.

Arwa El

It is one of my absolutely favorite books by James Baldwin. Sometimes while I was reading it I had the feeling this book was written two weeks ago and not a couple of decades. Definitely a book that has to be part of every American curriculum.

Daryl Houston

There are some really good essays in here (I especially liked "Stranger in the Village," "Journey to Atlanta," and the title essay), but there's enough here that's pinned to specific details (e.g. magazines or newspapers) of the time and place in which they were written that my interest wasn't always maxed out.

Written during the 1940s and early 1950s, when Baldwin was only in his twenties, the essays collected in Notes of a Native Son capture a view of black life and black thought at the dawn of the civil rights movement. Writing as an artist, activist, and social critic, Baldwin probes the complex condition of being black in America - from life in Harlem, to the protest novel, movies, and the experience of African Americans abroad - and many of his observations have proven almost prophetic. This book inaugurated Baldwin as one of the leading interpreters of the dramatic social changes erupting in the United States in the twentieth century and it is the book that established Baldwin's voice as a social critic. In an age of Black Lives Matter, Baldwin's essays are as powerful today as when they were first written.

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violeta

Tulio

'The story of the negro in America is the story of America ... it is not a very pretty story' James Baldwin's breakthrough essay collection made him the voice of his generation. Ranging over Harlem in the 1940s, movies, novels, his preacher father and his experiences of Paris, they capture the complexity of black life at the dawn of the civil rights movement with effervescent wit and prophetic wisdom. 'A classic ... In a divided America, James Baldwin's fiery critiques reverberate anew' Washington Post 'Edgy and provocative, entertainingly satirical' Robert McCrum, Guardian 'Cemented his reputation as a cultural seer ... Notes of a Native Son endures as his defining work, and his greatest' Time

Notes of a Native Son

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