The Cambridge Companion to James Baldwin

This Companion offers fresh insight into the art and politics of James Baldwin one of the most important writers and provocative cultural critics of the twentieth century. Black gay and gifted he was hailed as a ''spokesman for the race'' although he personally and controversially eschewed titles and classifications of all kinds. Individual essays examine his classic novels and nonfiction as well as his work across lesser-examined domains: poetry music theatre sermon photo-text children''s literature public media comedy and artistic collaboration. In doing so The Cambridge Companion to James Baldwin captures the power and influence of his work during the civil rights era as well as his relevance in the ''post-race'' transnational twenty-first century when his prescient questioning of the boundaries of race sex love leadership and country assume new urgency.