James Baldwin: The FBI File (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781628727371)

Available in book form for the first time, the FBI's secret dossier on the legendary and controversial writer.

Decades before Black Lives Matter returned James Baldwin to prominence, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI considered the Harlem-born author the most powerful broker between black art and black power. Baldwin's 1,884-page FBI file, covering the period from 1958 to 1974, was the largest compiled on any African American artist of the Civil Rights era. This collection of once-secret documents, never before published in book form, captures the FBI's anxious tracking of Baldwin's writings, phone conversations, and sexual habits--and Baldwin's defiant efforts to spy back at Hoover and his G-men.

James Baldwin: The FBI File reproduces over one hundred original FBI records, selected by the noted literary historian whose award-winning book, F.B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover's Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature, brought renewed attention to bureau surveillance. William J. Maxwell also provides an introduction exploring Baldwin's enduring relevance in the time of Black Lives Matter along with running commentaries that orient the reader and offer historical context, making this book a revealing look at a crucial slice of the American past--and present.

Author: William J. Maxwell
ISBN-10: 1628727373
ISBN-13: 9781628727371
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Language: English
Published: 06/06/2017
Pages: 440
Format: Paperback
Weight: 2.95lbs
Size: 10.00h x 8.00w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/03/2017
Shelf Awareness 06/30/2017
Choice 03/01/2018