Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Yesterday I read a little book, the first time it has been published without the photographs that accompanied the original table top book with Richard Avedon. James Baldwin and Avedon were in high school together, and decades ago did the book together. Now Baldwin's text has been printed separately, and it is as fresh and pertinent today as it was back then. His take on American culture rings true now, and his fearless speaking of the truth is shocking today. All the books I've been reading by Blacks about race issues have enlightened me, but none is as true to the bone as "Nothing Personal". He clearly saw America not as it wanted to be seen, chock full of myths, but as it was and is. And he makes you FEEL what this culture is for black Americans. It's searing prose is like poetry and song, and his ability to synthesize various aspects of our life in this country is nothing short of miraculous. I know I will be picking it up again and again to reread. Right now my daughter-in-law asked to borrow it to read. This is a book everyone should read.