The Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin (PDF)

Description

The controversial writer contemplates the whole spectrum of contemporary American life, with a look at the problems and continuing plight of Blacks in white America, by focusing on the Atlanta child murders and public reaction

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From Publishers Weekly The Atlanta child-murders case, in which Wayne Bertram Williams was arrested in 1981, is the focus of this short, maddeningly discursive book. At the suggestion of a Playboy editor, Baldwin visited Atlanta, attended Williams’s trial and spoke to principals, but this book is not a work of reportage on the case against Williams. Rather, it is an extended essay on U.S. race relations. Often Baldwin is vivid and powerful, as when recalling the terrors of his Harlem boyhood and imagining poor black Atlanta children stepping into strangers’ cars: “To be poor and Black in a country so rich and White is to judge oneself very harshly and it means that one has nothing to lose.” Black Atlanta (its officials, the victims and the defendant) provides a point of departure for Baldwin’s ruminations on deep and familiar concerns, but this book lacks the impact of his earlier works. October 31Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Baldwin, James. The Price of the Ticket: collected nonfiction, 1948-1985. Richard Marek: St. Martin’s. 1985. 690p. LC 85-11733. ISBN 0-312-64307-1. $29.95. essays One would wish these two works by America’s preeminent living black writer to stand as further testaments to his literary powers. But both are problematic. The nonfiction collection, inevitably, is uneven: some of the earlier pieces are pretentious and self-conscious, but most of the volume shows Baldwin’s brilliance in both insight and phrasing. However, the fact that virtually all of it has appeared before in hardcover limits the collection’s value for libraries that have copies of the individual works. Evidence of Things Not Seen is an account of the Atlanta child murders and the alleged murderer, Wayne Williams. In fact, though, it adds up to a garbled, meandering set of generalizations about blacks and whites. Baldwin assumes the reader’s familiarity with the details of the Williams case and the trauma that struck Atlanta, while making annoyingly unsupported general statements. He also, almost incidentally, asserts that the case against Williams was not proved. The Price of the Ticket is recommended for libraries weak on Baldwin. The self-indulgent essay on Atlanta is useful only to collections that insist on having his complete works. Anthony O. Edmonds, History Dept., Ball State Univ., Muncie, Ind.Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐James Baldwin was saying what we needed to hear decades ago. Will we listen now? This book was an assignment from Esquire magazine to cover the highly questionable case against Wayne Wilson in the Atlanta child murders. The case itself is being reviewed now. But Baldwin goes well beyond this investigation and trial to pull out the way systemic racism affects all sides and the nation as a whole.

⭐What a humdinger of an essay! I became interested in the Atlanta Child Murders after watching the HBO documentary series on the case. I do remember the troubles in Atlanta, as I was a teenager in 1980. But, I was much too busy to really pay attention to the news of the case. This was interesting to read. I still can’t understand the decision by Playboy magazine to send a poet & literary lion when an investigative reporter was needed. I fully understand, and appreciate, that race played a major role in this national tragedy. That being said, the sermonizing tone at certain points in the text was a bit annoying to me. Then, the revelation that James Baldwin was a preacher jumps up. I had no idea. I discovered many things between the covers of this brief work. It’s well worth your time.

⭐I had been following James Baldwin’s essays for some time now, having gotten his previous collections which ran the length of his writing career. This essay about the case – and compulsive (but so necessary and most welcome) digressions on the foundational issues in our country which brought about the way the case was handled – of the Atlanta child murders was what I’ve come to expect and love about Baldwin. His from-the-gut/spirit/heart reporting on the state of his country is refreshing and never gets old. This didn’t get five stars because of the translation of the book itself – many typos and omissions (either due to editing or print issues) of punctuations which give Baldwin’s writing his signature conversational, lemme-give-it-to-ya-straight, baby style. It took some doing to imagine it being there. After poring over forty years of his works I knew where to put them. Timely, and educational. Another one to add to the collection.

⭐Excellent and must read, MJ

⭐Great product

⭐Love this book!

⭐GREAT

⭐Great read

⭐book in good shape. Baldwin’s prose is still incredible late in his career

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