No Name in the Street

'Candid, insightful, moving . . . a memoir, a chronicle of and commentary on America's abortive civil-rights movement' -The New York Times

In this deeply personal book, Baldwin reflects on the experiences that shaped him as a writer and activist: from his childhood in Harlem to the deaths Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Exploring the visceral reality of life in the American South as well as Baldwin’s impressions of London, Paris and Hamburg, No Name in the Street grapples with the failed promises of global liberation movements in fearless, candid prose.

Timeless, tender and profound, Baldwin’s searing narrative contains the multiplicities of what it means to be Black in America and, indeed, around the world.

Review

Baldwin’s essayistic reflections are often marked by the personal: he uses anecdotes from his own life to uncover more universal truths . . . the clarity, fire and empathetic humanity of his voice is needed now more than ever -- Colin Grant ― Guardian

A strikingly personal book… an assessment of where the traumatic events of the late-1960s left Americans, both white and black… Baldwin’s prose style is as striking in No Name in the Street as in many of his other essays… [his] words still burn on the page -- David Olusoga ― New Statesman

There is still pleasure in his inimitable voice. That voice was heard aloud in the debates and interviews he gave which made Baldwin a great example of that extinct species, the public intellectual ― The Times

It contains truth that cannot be denied ― The Atlantic

If Van Gogh was our 19th century artist-saint then James Baldwin is our 20th century one -- Michael Ondaatje

Mesmerizing... as candid, insightful and moving as any in his previous essays... His message is finally as basic as it is undeniable: If we do not love one another, we will destroy one another ― The New York Times

Praise for James Baldwin -- - ― -

Baldwin wrote in arias of feeling and thought… [He] proved that if he wrote it down, it could have power beyond the moment -- Hilton Als

He was one of our best essayists in the best American gadfly tradition -- Ralph Ellison

What makes his essays so compelling is that he insists on being personal, on forcing the public and the political to submit to his voice and the test of his experience and his observation -- Colm Tóibín

Baldwin refused to hold anyone’s hand. He was both direct and beautiful all at once. He did not seem to write to convince you. He wrote beyond you -- Ta-Nehisi Coates

About the Author

Born in Harlem in 1924, James Baldwin was a novelist, essayist, play­wright, poet, social critic and the author of more than twenty books. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, appeared in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his essay col­lection The Fire Next Time was a bestseller that made him an influential figure in the civil rights movement. Baldwin spent many years in France, where he moved to escape the racism and homophobia of the United States. He died in 1987.