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William J. Maxwell

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James Baldwin: The FBI File Kindle Edition

by David Leeming (Author), William J. Maxwell (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 23 ratings

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Available in book form for the first time, the FBI's secret dossier on the legendary and controversial writer.

Decades before Black Lives Matter returned James Baldwin to prominence, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI considered the Harlem-born author the most powerful broker between black art and black power. Baldwin’s 1,884-page FBI file, covering the period from 1958 to 1974, was the largest compiled on any African American artist of the Civil Rights era. This collection of once-secret documents, never before published in book form, captures the FBI’s anxious tracking of Baldwin’s writings, phone conversations, and sexual habitsand Baldwin’s defiant efforts to spy back at Hoover and his G-men.

James Baldwin: The FBI File reproduces over one hundred original FBI records, selected by the noted literary historian whose award-winning book, F.B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover’s Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature, brought renewed attention to bureau surveillance. William J. Maxwell also provides an introduction exploring Baldwin's enduring relevance in the time of Black Lives Matter along with running commentaries that orient the reader and offer historical context, making this book a revealing look at a crucial slice of the American pastand present.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The best literary biography I’ve read in a long time. An engrossing narrative.” Leon Edel

The most revealing and subjectively penetrating assessment of Baldwin’s life yet published.” The New York Times Book Review

The first Baldwin biography in which one can recognize the human features of this brilliant, troubled, principled, supremely courageous man.” Boston Globe

Loving but honest . . . [Baldwin] wrote, No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it,’ and . . . Mr. Leeming shows so well [the price he paid].” The New York Times

Intimate, artfuland major . . . An exceptional literary biography deserving wide promotion and readership . . . [by] a personal friend of the great novelist and essayist.” Booklist

Highly perceptive, revealing.” Publishers Weekly

The best literary biography I’ve read in a long time. An engrossing narrative.” Leon Edel

The most revealing and subjectively penetrating assessment of Baldwin’s life yet published.” The New York Times Book Review

The first Baldwin biography in which one can recognize the human features of this brilliant, troubled, principled, supremely courageous man.” Boston Globe

Loving but honest . . . [Baldwin] wrote, No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it,’ and . . . Mr. Leeming shows so well [the price he paid].” The New York Times

Intimate, artfuland major . . . An exceptional literary biography deserving wide promotion and readership . . . [by] a personal friend of the great novelist and essayist.” Booklist

Highly perceptive, revealing.” Publishers Weekly

About the Author

William J. Maxwell is professor of English and African American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author of the widely acclaimed F.B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover’s Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature, winner of a 2016 American Book Award, and New Negro, Old Left: African American Writing and Communism between the Wars. He is also the creator and curator of the F.B. Eyes Digital Archive,” which presents high-resolution copies of the FBI files of African American authors obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. He lives with his family in St. Louis, Missouri.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01N4JB3KA
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arcade; Reprint edition (June 6, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 6, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 196444 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 465 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,502,028 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,009 in Black & African American History (Kindle Store)
- #2,162 in African American Studies
- #3,554 in Biographies & Memoirs of Authors

Customer Reviews:
4.5 23 ratings

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William J. Maxwell

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William J. Maxwell is Professor of English and African and African American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, where he has taught modern American and African American literatures since 2009. He is the author of the books "F.B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover’s Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature" (Princeton University Press, 2015), which won an American Book Award in 2016, and "New Negro, Old Left: African American Writing and Communism between the Wars" (Columbia University Press, 1999). He is the editor of the collection "James Baldwin: The FBI File" (Arcade, 2017); of Claude McKay’s "Complete Poems" (University of Illinois Press, 2004); and, along with Gary E. Holcomb, of McKay’s previously unpublished novel "Romance in Marseille" (Penguin Classics, 2020). His more than sixty essays and reviews have appeared in dozens of academic and popular journals including "African American Review," "The American Historical Review," "American Literary History," "American Literature," "Callaloo," "Harper’s," "The Irish Times," "The Journal of American History," "Modernism/modernity," "Politico," "Publishers Weekly," "Salon," and the London "Times Literary Supplement." Maxwell is the First Vice President of the international Modernist Studies Association (MSA) and has served on the Modern Language Association (MLA) divisional committees on both black American and twentieth-century American literatures. A former book review editor of "African American Review" and member of the editorial board of "American Literature," he is now a contributing editor at "American Literary History" and "James Baldwin Review."