Go Tell It On The Mountain

James Baldwin's portrayal of black people in Harlem caught up in a dramatic struggle, and of a society confronting inevi... (more)

James Baldwin's portrayal of black people in Harlem caught up in a dramatic struggle, and of a society confronting inevitable change. (less)

"Mountain," Baldwin said, "is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else." Go Tell It On The Mou... (more)

"Mountain," Baldwin said, "is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else." Go Tell It On The Mountain, first published in 1953, is Baldwin's first major work, a novel that has established itself as an American classic. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Baldwin's rendering of his protagonist's spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle of self-invention opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves. (less)

The story of John, a fourteen-year-old boy whose stepfather is a Pentecostal minister in Harlem in 1935, as he struggles... (more)

The story of John, a fourteen-year-old boy whose stepfather is a Pentecostal minister in Harlem in 1935, as he struggles to discover his own identity. (less)

"Mountain, "Baldwin said, "is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else. "Go Tell It On The Mou... (more)

"Mountain, "Baldwin said, "is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else. "Go Tell It On The Mountain, first published in 1953, is Baldwin's first major work, a novel that has established itself as an American classic. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Baldwin's rendering of his protagonist's spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle of self-invention opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves. (less)

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A young black boy in the 1930's tries to win the respect of his stepfather. (more)

A young black boy in the 1930's tries to win the respect of his stepfather. (less)