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James Baldwin: The FBI File
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The FBI’s secret dossier on the legendary and controversial writer, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
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 American Book Award winner William J. Maxwell, who also provides an introduction exploring Baldwin’s enduring relevance and running commentaries that offer historical context, making this book a revealing look at the American past—and present.
“Baldwin’s FBI file [is] a valuable biographical, social and at times literary critical document . . . Maxwell offers wry and often witty interpretation of the documents . . . [His] work is intended to show that Black Writers Matter―or that they used to, especially during the period in which Hoover held office as Director of the FBI.” —The Times Literary Supplement
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 American Book Award winner William J. Maxwell, who also provides an introduction exploring Baldwin’s enduring relevance and running commentaries that offer historical context, making this book a revealing look at the American past—and present.
“Baldwin’s FBI file [is] a valuable biographical, social and at times literary critical document . . . Maxwell offers wry and often witty interpretation of the documents . . . [His] work is intended to show that Black Writers Matter―or that they used to, especially during the period in which Hoover held office as Director of the FBI.” —The Times Literary Supplement
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