Nobody Knows My Name

By James Baldwin

From one of the most brilliant writers and thinkers of the twentieth century comes a collection of "passionate, probing, controversial" essays (The Atlantic) on topics ranging from race relations in the United States to the role of the writer in society.

Told with Baldwin's characteristically unflinching honesty, this “splendid book” (The New York Times) offers illuminating, deeply felt essays along with personal accounts of Richard Wright, Norman Mailer and other writers. 

“James Baldwin is a skillful writer, a man of fine intelligence and a true companion in the desire to make life human. To take a cue from his title, we had better learn his name.” —The New York Times

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9780804149730

James Baldwin

James Baldwin (1841-1925) was an American textbook editor and author who had enormous influence in the publication of grammar and history textbooks at the beginning of the twentieth century. Born into a Quaker family in rural Indiana, he was largely self-educated. After publishing his first work, The Story of Siegfried (1882) he wrote more than fifty books, including Old Greek Stories (1895) and Fifty Famous Stories Retold (1895).

Reviews for Nobody Knows My Name

[heggiep · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy reading essay collections from the '50s, '60s and '70s because they are from another time that, nonetheless, still feels somewhat contemporary. This excellent collection, unfortunately, feels too contemporary. During these Black Lives Matter days, that a book written 60 years ago should feel so currently on-point is, while fascinating, quite disturbing.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nobody Knows My Name is a collection of essays continued from Notes From a Native Son. While the essays are less biting than those in Notes they are just as honest and clear about the Negro condition at the time of Baldwin's writing. He has a sharp eye for the social and economical position of the time. As he was frequenting Paris I find it interesting that for Baldwin the question of color did not exist in Europe whereas in America he was afraid to listen to Bessie Smith or even touch watermelon. It is in Europe that Baldwin discovered what it mean to be an American.

[muscogulus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a magnetic book. Whenever I leaf through it again, I get the feeling I have to reread it once more. Read this, for example: "...[T]he American equation of success with the big times reveals an awful disrespect for human life and human achievement. This equation has placed our cities among the most dangerous in the world and has placed our youth among the most empty and most bewildered. The situation of our youth is not mysterious. Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. They must, they have no other models. That is exactly what our children are doing. They are imitating our immorality, our disrespect for the pain of others."My copy is a gift from one of my sisters, who wrote inside, "My favorite author." I believe I know why.

[andyray_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Baldwin is in his Muse when he's writing essays, and that's what thius is. One could be reading Bertrand Russell or Biill Buckley as an essay's structure is the same for all writers. Baldwin opinionates on the race problem mainly, with two discussions of Richard Wright and Norman Mailer thrown into the mix. And as he argues, Baldwin does so with emotions and feelings, not facts, but he does the former so well one doesn't realize the facts are absent until somewhere down the line.