A searing collection of social and cultural criticism from a writer at the height of his creative powers

Written in the late 1950s and early 1960s, this rich and stimulating collection contains 'Fifth Avenue, Uptown- a Letter from Harlem', polemical pieces on the tragedies inflicted by racial segregation and a poignant account of Bakdwin's first journey to 'the Old Country', the southern states. Yet equally compelling are his 'Notes for a Hypothetical Novel' and personal reflections on being American, on other major artists - Ingmar Bergman and Andre Gide, Norman Mailer and Richard Wright - and on the first great conference of African American writers and artists in Paris.

In his introduction Baldwin describes the writer as requiring 'every ounce of stamina he can summon to attempt to look on himself and the world as they are'; his uncanny ability to do just that is proclaimed on every page of this famous book.