James Baldwin

By James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Toni Morrison

Book cover of James Baldwin: Collected Essays

Book description

James Baldwin was a uniquely prophetic voice in American letters. His brilliant and provocative essays made him the literary voice of the Civil Rights Era, and they continue to speak with powerful urgency to us today, whether in the swirling debate over the Black Lives Matter movement or in the…

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Why read it?

1 author picked James Baldwin as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I am recommending this book because one can’t understand power without being beholden to it systemically and repeatedly, all the while dissecting power’s discontents. Baldwin’s words may seem to strike only to America’s core, but every marginalized person will find truth in them. As an Egyptologist, I rely on Baldwin to tell me what oppressed people in an authoritarian regime thought but could not commit to paper.

From Kara's list on power and the powerless.

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