No Name in the Street | 
pickA good book. Baldwin tells his personal story- his early childhood, living abroad, and personal relationships and work within the civil rights movement. He talks a lot about MLK and Malcolm X (their relationships and responses to their deaths). Overall a good read.
pickThis was an insightful book to read at this point in time. James Baldwin has a lot to say about the United States in the late 60's into the Early 70's. His reflection on Martin Luther and Malcolm X as they lived and as they died was so moving to see these two people from his perspective gave clout to his words. You realize the Civil Rights movement was interwoven. All of theses people knew each other.
pickWhile not Baldwin‘s best essay collection(see The Fire Next Time), this is a favorite for me. It‘s melancholy, an end of an era book. Baldwin writes about the assassinated (Medgar Evers, MLK, Malcom X), the incarcerated (Huey Newton, etc), and about his failed attempt to make a movie on Malcolm X (his script was the basis of the 1990‘s movie). By 1971 the beaded hippie era has faded, and their failure reflects in other American failures.
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A little free time when work sends me to maybe not the most beautiful place in Mexico. Baldwin is mulling over the lives and meanings of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, both of whom he knew. And he‘s continuing his attacks on the the lunacy of American conservatives, the American south, Hollywood and, especially, the inauthenticity of American liberals (his main readers?). Huh - that‘s practically a review...
pickNo Name in the Street is an absolutely essential book. At times, it‘s a very personal account of the civil rights era and the emotional effect it had on James Baldwin. It also sheds light on greater truths about American society that everyone should hear. This is a great book to read with The Fire Next Time. It is full of sharp insights and incredible writing.
Imagine being lost in a city and you come upon this sign, it's the stuff of bad dreams
#WanderingJune #WhereTheStreetsHaveNoName @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB
pickBaldwin‘s intelligence and the eloquence with which he flawlessly delivered his personal history and his anger with the moral failings of the country were haunting because of how, unfortunately, America remains so racist today. I‘m ashamed to think what he would make of our present divide. 💔
