Nobody Knows My Name

From one of the most brilliant writers and thinkers of the twentieth century comes a collection of "passionate, probing, controversial" essays (The Atlantic) on topics ranging from race relations in the United States to the role of the writer in society.

Told with Baldwin's characteristically unflinching honesty, this “splendid book” (The New York Times) offers illuminating, deeply felt essays along with personal accounts of Richard Wright, Norman Mailer and other writers. 

“James Baldwin is a skillful writer, a man of fine intelligence and a true companion in the desire to make life human. To take a cue from his title, we had better learn his name.” —The New York TimesIntroduction

PART ONE:  Sitting in the House . . .
1.   The Discovery of What It Means to Be an American
2.   Princes and Powers
3.   Fifth Avenue, Uptown: a Letter from Harlem
4.   East River, Downtown:  Postscript to a Letter from Harlem
5.   A Fly in Buttermilk
6.   Nobody Knows My Name: a Letter from the South
7.   Faulkner and Desegregation
8.   In Search of a Majority

PART TWO:  . . . With Everything on My Mind
9.   Notes from a Hypothetical Novel
10. The Male Prison
11. The Northern Protestant
12. Alas, Poor Richard
i.  Eight Men
ii. The Exile
iii. Alas, Poor Richard
13.  The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy"A passionate, probing, controversial book which is outstandingly well written." —The AtlanticJames Baldwin (1924–1987) was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, appeared in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his essay collections Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time were bestsellers that made him an influential figure in the growing civil rights movement. Baldwin spent much of his life in France, where he moved to escape the racism and homophobia of the United States. He died in France in 1987, a year after being made a Commander of the French Legion of Honor.