James Baldwin: A Biography

I'm old enough to remember the Freedom Riders, and the sit-ins, and Bull Connor, and Martin and Malcolm and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and so much more, all in black and white on a 19 inch Zenith. I've received unsubtle guidance and reading material from African-American comrades in arms during our Vietnam era military service. I've studied the history of the movement with a militant professor. I thought I had a reasonable, historically informed view of racism in America. Then I read Jimmy Baldwin, and this marvelous biography, and my world shifted. Baldwin saw himself as prophetic, and history bears his prophecies out. In one important essay after another, and then in his novels, Baldwin's analysis early in the 1960s of "the Negro problem" - as a "White problem" and as a perpetuation of racist mythologies that denigrate African Americans and elevate any and all whites (long before any talk of "white privilege" and its analysis, loosely analogous to that of Baldwin) - remains as cogent today as the day it was written. Biographer David Leeming was in an ideal position to render Baldwin the justice he fully deserves. Leeming does indefatigable service to his friend and sometime employer, combing the archives, reading every draft, all the unpublished manuscripts, letters, notes, outlines, tracking down and interviewing Baldwin intimates, casual acquaintances, editors, colleagues, drinking companions, lovers, and on and on, hiding nothing (apart from the occasional Baldwin paramour, in the interest of privacy) and placing Baldwin's life in superb context, showing, in detail after detail, how Baldwin, the consummate auto-novelist, placed his life and beliefs completely, exhaustively, redundantly, in myriad variations, on the page, and then walked the talk. Essential as both a tale of a turbulent time in our national life - with the awakening of the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1950s and into the 1960s, a time of courageous protest, daring activism, horrific suppression, riots, assassinations, and waxing and waning political courage - and as a literary biography of a wholly self-made genius, who knew and befriended all the principal civil rights activists and who was himself the center of a literal movable literary feast - the list of Baldwin's prominent friends and admirers is a Who's Who of the times - from his early days in a Harlem ghetto, through three years as "boy preacher" who then left the church and his father's home on the same day, and on to international fame and literary acclaim as perhaps the most formidable bad conscience of his time. Leeming's work also passes muster as a commentary on Baldwin's novels, albeit from a very favorably biased point of view and at sometimes too great a length, with spoilers abounding. Still, Leeming gives Baldwin's critics their say, even as he guides his readers back to the Baldwin oeuvre. Leeming provides the extensive, deeply knowledgeable baseline from which all Baldwin biographers must begin. More importantly for me, Leeming's biography makes a strong case for the significance of Baldwin's late novels, which have generally had more deteractors than admirers among the literary chattering classes, and has fortified me with a determination to read Baldwin's entire published catalogue, or at very least the three Library of America volumes (of which I've made progress in two). David Leeming has given us a profoundly sympathetic portrait of a complex, tormented man and how that man transformed his pain into art. It is an unusually candid, absolutely essential work on the life and work of a remarkable - and remarkably prophetic - human being.

Fascinating read about the life of a literary icon who battled oppression (sexual and racial). Baldwin was eloquent as a speaker and debater as well. You get a sense of the streets he walked in NYC and Paris.

James Baldwin's messages are timeless. He lived his life with the entire world in mind, he cared that much. His perseverance, his truth and confessions, and righteous anger has created a shift within me, a black millennial from the ghetto. I am grateful for coming across this beautifully written autobiography. Now on to the books :)

I loved reading this book. James Baldwin is an awesome writer.

It’s obvious that Leeming had a great regard for Baldwin but his writing lacks clarity or fire. He relies on the subject’s life for excitement but doesn’t always use his prose to do so. Still, this book is a must for fans of one of the best writers in Black America.

I now own a book about this man

James Baldwin: A Biography, was an excellent chronology of Baldwin’s life and struggles as a writer and a critically conscious being (a black man) in the United States. Baldwin, controversial, yes, but a literary giant and magnificent storyteller of the American saga, and one of the most insightful critics, and a veritable prophet regarding the ill personality of America. An excellent book to read.

David Leeming was a close friend of James Baldwin and he’s created a vivid biography. He captures all of Baldwin’s struggles with race, racism, religion, and his sexuality. It’s chronological so it’s as if we witness him living his life. It’s certainly NOT a dry biography of a boring person.

Easily one of the best books I've read. I'm a fan of Baldwin's work, and this privileged look at his entire life is fascinating and exciting. I honestly didn't want this book to end. But when it did, wow. Heartbreaking.

I'm not black or gay, but this biography, written with clear eyes but also much love by one of Baldwin's close friends, who lived with him and worked for him, resonated with me. James Baldwin, with his rickety private life, his depression, and his rage, was a great man who devoted his life to the quest for love , and to making sense of his cultural inheritance. An extraordinary man. Look up the YouTube videos -- his speech to the Cambridge Student Union when he took part in a debate with the right wing commentator Buckley (Baldwin got a standing ovation), or the interview with Mavis ?? when one of his plays opened in London. A great man....

A good read & really informative both about James Baldwin's life & also giving background to the novels.

A very detailed look at Baldwin’s life from beginning to end. I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend to my friends

James Baldwin's story is partly a tale of the racism in America, which, although they had the Civil Rights' marches etc., which tried to emancipate the black Americans, shows that there is still a lot of racism in US, by today's ever present open hostility to many black people there. James' personal life began in the ghetto and gradually, due to his writings, he was able to speak up for the African Americans. He was a prolific writer and speaker. He died knowing that attitudes of the racists had not changed as he had wished.