# Notes of a Native Son - Hardcover

by **James Baldwin** (Author), **Edward P. Jones** (Foreword by)

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 documentaries like _I Am Not Your Negro_ 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.

### Author Biography

**James Baldwin** (1924-1987) was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic, and one of America's foremost writers. His writing explores palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-twentieth-century America. A Harlem, New York, native, he primarily made his home in the south of France. He is the author of several novels and books of nonfiction, including _Notes of a Native Son_, _Go Tell It on the Mountain_, _Giovanni's Room_, _Another Country_, _Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone_, _If Beale Street Could Talk_, _Just Above My Head_, _The Fire Next Time_, _No Name in the Street_, and _The Evidence of Things Not Seen_, and of the poetry collection _Jimmy's Blues_.

**Number of Pages:** 208

**Dimensions:** 0.9 x 8.7 x 5.5 IN

**Publication Date:** November 20, 2012

## Details

- **Price:** 28.95 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 28.95 USD | In stock |

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- Notes of a Native Son - Hardcover

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