A review by mrsdoubtflyer
No Name in the Street by James Baldwin

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

Not an easy read but an important one. A cross between a memoir and a cultural critique. Nonlinear and meandering, almost stream of consciousness, but what consciousness. Provides insight into Baldwin’s early years, time abroad, and relationships to the US. The reader gets a deep sense of his ties to, often friendships with, major civil rights leaders like Martin, Malcolm, Medgar. Illuminating analysis of how mainstream US culture works to dehumanize and disappear challenges to white supremacy, whether from the Black Panthers or from flower children advocating free love. Depressingly timeless commentary on the criminal justice system, as in the system itself being criminal, and the police. Feels like being privy to Baldwin’s profound, private thoughts, as he reckons with what it means to be a witness, a friend,  a truth teller, a human living in a violent, dishonest and morally compromised America.