The Cross of Redemption Uncollected Writings [Paperback]

The Cross of Redemptionis a revelation by an American literary master: a gathering of essays, articles, polemics, reviews, and interviews that have never before appeared in book form.
 
James Baldwin was one of the most brilliant and provocative literary figures of the past century, renowned for his fierce engagement with issues haunting our common history. InThe Cross of Redemptionwe have Baldwin discoursing on, among other subjects, the possibility of an African-American president and what it might mean; the hypocrisy of American religious fundamentalism; the black church in America; the trials and tribulations of black nationalism; anti-Semitism; the blues and boxing; Russian literary masters; and the role of the writer in our society.
 
Prophetic and bracing,The Cross of Redemptionis a welcome and important addition to the works of a cosmopolitan and canonical American writer who still has much to teach us about race, democracy, and personal and national identity. As Michael Ondaatje has remarked, “If van Gogh was our nineteenth-century artist-saint, Baldwin [was] our twentieth-century one.”

INTRODUCTION
 
Looking for James Baldwin
 
ESSAYS AND SPEECHES
 
Mass Culture and the Creative Artist: Some Personal Notes
A Word from Writer Directly to Reader
FromNationalism, Colonialism,andthe United States: One Minute
     to Twelve—A Forum
Theater: The Negro In and Out
IsA Raisin in the Suna Lemon in the Dark? 
As Much Truth as One Can Bear 
Geraldine Page: Bird of Light 
FromWhat’s the Reason Why?: A Symposium by Best-Selling
     Authors:James Baldwin onAnother Country 
The Artist’s Struggle for Integrity 
We Can Change the Country 
Why I Stopped Hating Shakespeare 
The Uses of the Bl£+