Begin Again

James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own

An academic and cultural critic examines the life and writings of James Baldwin to understand contemporary racial politics in America. The author analyzes how Baldwin confronted the disillusionment following the civil rights movement and the enduring myth of American exceptionalism. By looking at Baldwin's later works the book connects past racial struggles with modern movements like Black Lives Matter. It serves as a dual work of biography and social criticism urging a moral reckoning with the nation's past.

by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.