Personal and prophetic, these essays uncover what it means to live in a racist American society with insights that feel as fresh today as they did over the four decades in which he composed them. Longtime Baldwin fans and especially those just discovering his genius will appreciate this essential collection of his great nonfiction writing, available for the first time in affordable paperback. Along with forty-six additional pieces, it includes the full text of dozens of famous essays from such books as: Notes of a Native Son; Nobody Knows My Name; The Fire Next Time; No Name in the Street; The Devil Finds Work. This collection is the perfect entry point to Baldwin’s prescient commentary on race, sexuality, and identity in an unjust American society.