Novelist and essayist
James Baldwin
James Baldwin wrote fiction, essays, and plays that brought questions of race, sexuality, faith, and American belonging into intimate focus. Harlem and his years abroad inform many of the works on this shelf.
On the shelves
Books in the collection
Fiction
Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin
An American expatriate confronts desire, shame, and his capacity for betrayal in Paris.
Fiction
Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin
A Harlem teenager’s encounter with the church opens onto the private histories of his family.
Fiction
If Beale Street Could Talk
James Baldwin
Tish and Fonny’s plans for a life together are upended by a wrongful accusation.
Essays
Notes of a Native Son
James Baldwin
Baldwin brings personal grief and cultural criticism into conversation across these early essays.
Essays
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin
Two essays examine faith, racial power, and the obligations Americans owe one another.