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Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
alissa417's review
5.0
Eddie S. Glaude Jr.’s BEGIN AGAIN (272 pp, Crown) inspired me in such unexpected ways. Within these pages, Glaude stitches together James Baldwin’s publicly documented struggles with American society in the aftermath of the civil rights movement with his movements across the globe, seeking headspace and clarity of purpose; throughout this study, Glaude weaves in commonalities to the strange times we find ourselves experiencing today, and offers us a glimpse at where we can proceed based on Baldwin’s search for an elsewhere.
Elsewhere is that physical or metaphorical place that affords the space to breathe, to refuse adjustment and accommodation to the demands of society, and to live apart, if just for a time, from the deadly assumptions that threaten to smother. Living elsewhere can offer you a moment of rest, to catch your breath and ready yourself to enter the fray once again, not so much whole and healed, but battle-scarred and prepared for yet another round. Seeking an elsewhere affords a different vantage point to assess your commitments and the depth of your loves and hatreds. Without recourse to an elsewhere, we can be, as some of us surely are, “broken on the wheel of life.” Jimmy would render this point powerfully in NO NAME [IN THE STREET], and it remains as relevant today as it was when he wrote it. It is a biting judgment of what happens to black people, to people generally, in a country committed to a value gap, where they can’t escape its effects. (pp. 129)
Noting Baldwin’s frequent, extended stays across Europe in search of breathing room, Glaude speaks to the societal anxieties Baldwin felt he must escape from in order to create commentaries that lifted the national dialogue to another level. Extrapolating further, Glaude notes parallels produced by today’s politics.
One of the more insidious features of Trumpism is that it deliberately seeks to occupy every ounce of our attention. In doing so, it aims to force our resignation to the banality of evil and the mundaneness of cruelty. (pp. 139)
Glaude then deep dives into what Trump’s rise to power means for America’s past, and present.
When we make Trump exceptional, we let ourselves off the hook, for he is us just as surely as slave-owning Founding Fathers were us; as surely as Lincoln, with his talk of sending black people to Liberia, was us: as surely as Reagan was us, with his welfare queens. When we are surprised to see the reemergence of Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and other white nationalists, we reveal our willful ignorance about how our own choices make them possible. (pp. 194)
I grabbed this book expecting a powerful literary analysis, and concluded my read determined to examine every work by James Baldwin in pursuit of the next steps towards my aspirational America. And I’ll peruse Glaude’s backlist as well, no doubt, as I search for my own elsewhere - to create alliances and move onward to brighter days.
This title is available at Salisbury’s independent bookstore, South Main Book Company, located at 110 S. Main St. Call 704-630-9788 or email [email protected] to confirm store hours and events. Alissa Redmond is the owner of this store.
You may purchase a copy from the store by clicking on this link: https://bookshop.org/a/36/9780525575320
Elsewhere is that physical or metaphorical place that affords the space to breathe, to refuse adjustment and accommodation to the demands of society, and to live apart, if just for a time, from the deadly assumptions that threaten to smother. Living elsewhere can offer you a moment of rest, to catch your breath and ready yourself to enter the fray once again, not so much whole and healed, but battle-scarred and prepared for yet another round. Seeking an elsewhere affords a different vantage point to assess your commitments and the depth of your loves and hatreds. Without recourse to an elsewhere, we can be, as some of us surely are, “broken on the wheel of life.” Jimmy would render this point powerfully in NO NAME [IN THE STREET], and it remains as relevant today as it was when he wrote it. It is a biting judgment of what happens to black people, to people generally, in a country committed to a value gap, where they can’t escape its effects. (pp. 129)
Noting Baldwin’s frequent, extended stays across Europe in search of breathing room, Glaude speaks to the societal anxieties Baldwin felt he must escape from in order to create commentaries that lifted the national dialogue to another level. Extrapolating further, Glaude notes parallels produced by today’s politics.
One of the more insidious features of Trumpism is that it deliberately seeks to occupy every ounce of our attention. In doing so, it aims to force our resignation to the banality of evil and the mundaneness of cruelty. (pp. 139)
Glaude then deep dives into what Trump’s rise to power means for America’s past, and present.
When we make Trump exceptional, we let ourselves off the hook, for he is us just as surely as slave-owning Founding Fathers were us; as surely as Lincoln, with his talk of sending black people to Liberia, was us: as surely as Reagan was us, with his welfare queens. When we are surprised to see the reemergence of Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and other white nationalists, we reveal our willful ignorance about how our own choices make them possible. (pp. 194)
I grabbed this book expecting a powerful literary analysis, and concluded my read determined to examine every work by James Baldwin in pursuit of the next steps towards my aspirational America. And I’ll peruse Glaude’s backlist as well, no doubt, as I search for my own elsewhere - to create alliances and move onward to brighter days.
This title is available at Salisbury’s independent bookstore, South Main Book Company, located at 110 S. Main St. Call 704-630-9788 or email [email protected] to confirm store hours and events. Alissa Redmond is the owner of this store.
You may purchase a copy from the store by clicking on this link: https://bookshop.org/a/36/9780525575320
shockman's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
ali1311's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Really cool concept for a book and executed extremely well. The audiobook is also read very dynamically and it keeps you focused. I also really appreciated the comparison between Baldwin's time and the present moment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
laila4343's review
5.0
When I read The Fire Next Time and Notes of a Native Son I kept thinking how relevant Baldwin’s words were for us today, sadly. That so much of what he wrote still applies today. Glaude’s book, a mixture of history, biography, and social analysis, applies Baldwin’s works, particularly as they changed in tone in the mid-1960s, as the violence and murders of Civil Rights leaders traumatized him, to our moment in the Trump era. How Trump really is not an aberration but a continuation of the lie that runs throughout American history. (The lie being “the mechanism that allows, and has always allowed, America to avoid facing the truth about its unjust treatment of black people and how it deforms the soul of the country,” page 8.) It’s clear how much Glaude cares for his subject; this is a moving portrait of a brilliant writer and thinker, a man who cared passionately for America even as he unflinchingly exposed its shortcomings. Now I want to read every word Baldwin wrote. Even if you’ve not read Baldwin before, I’d still recommend this book.
amethyst_doo's review
It's all me; I wasn't in the right frame of mind to pay proper attention having come off of several similar books. I intend to revisit.
christynhoover's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Some chapters were slow but overall it leaves me with a profound appreciation for James Baldwin as a brilliant, fearless, loving human --and guidance on how we move forward in our pursuit of honestly living into the "promise" of the US.