(Polygon, £14.99)
Aged just 14, James Baldwin became a preacher at the Fireside Pentecostal Assembly in Harlem, and his talent for oratory lived on in his writing, making him one of the most influential black voices of 20th-century America. James Campbell, born in Glasgow in 1951, knew Baldwin for the last 10 years of the latter’s life and brings a fond, personal touch to this biography of the “compulsively sociable” yet “darkly introverted” author, though he doesn’t let friendship get in the way of solid criticism. Drawing on correspondence and interviews, poring over the FBI’s file on him (Baldwin believed, rightly, he was under surveillance) and examining his relationships with writers like Langston Hughes, Richard Wright and Norman Mailer, Campbell has produced a vivid, candid portrait of a fascinating man. This new edition comes with an introduction acknowledging that Baldwin’s politics and his “intersectionality” have left him ripe for rediscovery after many low-profile years.