James Baldwin: A Collection of Speeches and Lectures

By: James Baldwin

Narrated by: James Baldwin

Length: 18 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

James Baldwin was an American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist. His essays, as collected in Notes of a Native Son (1955), explore intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western society, most notably in regard to the mid-20th-century United States. 

This is a collection of his speeches and lectures.

©2020 James Baldwin (P)2020 James Baldwin

A poorly organized treasure trove

I have to agree with some of the other reviewers that this is not well organized. There is often no clear indication of the year, or forum in which Baldwin is being recorded. The same speeches and interviews appear more than once from time to time.

However, I cannot imagine how much personal effort it would take to track down the interviews, speeches, and lectures contained in this compilation. There are recordings spanning nearly Baldwin’s entire career as a “public person.” It is a joy to hear him translate his thoughts and ideas for his audiences, as well as joust with those audience members and fellow speakers alike.

Wonderful content poorly, or not at all, curated.

A historical treasure

The opportunity to hear an audience respond to Baldwin adds a new layer to the richness of the experience. Listen to the man who gorgeously articulated truths that we still grapple with today. Listen in a quiet room, as 1950's sound recording can be a bit fuzzy.

Great works, terribly compiled

I came to this looking for james baldwin reading his own work. The works here are great, and as expected; however, the collection is terribly edited and often goes quiet for critical moments of his speeches, and repeats others. Better to find them elsewhere.

Still Valid

I am enjoying hearing Baldwin speak about disparities and struggles of black people in America. It is one thing to read a book or listen to an audiobook, but this collection allows you to hear his voice and it brings the lectures to life.

I do wish the chapters had annotations... the date and location at least. I've had to go onto youtube on most of the chapters to figure out where and when they were held. Also, some of the chapters are duplicated in this collection, and all of these lectures are available on youtube.

Always eloquent. Still relevant.

A collection of various recordings of James Baldwin. That itself is enough, JB’s speeches still touch a chord and are sadly still all too relevant to our times, but the collection has many problems which is why I only gave it 4 stars.

- The recordings have no date or details about each one.
- No context for debates.
- Much repetition. Not a bad thing in itself though.
- A couple of talks are not even by JB. Including Cornell West and MLK.

Jimmy Baldwin... repeated.

only reason this is not 5 stars for overall is that there's repetition of the same speech or debate.