DADADA

[Addition to gallery, suggested by a reader.] Few American writers of the 1950s and 1960s were as influential in their time — and perhaps even fewer reward frequent re-readings — as James Baldwin. In his fiction (Go Tell It on the Mountain, Another Country, Giovanni’s Room) and, even more so, in his powerful essays (collections like Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time), he laid bare and examined issues of race, sexuality, and identity with an honesty and — let’s face it — a bravery that’s still bracing today. His later works, sadly, began to feel frantic and ill-conceived, and seem almost to have been written by another person, entirely.