Books like Nobody Knows My Name

An interesting transition between the raw passion of Notes of a Native Son and the prophetic rhetoric of The Fire Next Time, Nobody Knows My Name is as eloquent as either work. The essays collected here range from an analysis of the ties between racial and national identity in America through a memoir of the author's relationship with Richard Wright to a critique of Norman Mailer's work. Regardless of what his subject is, though, Baldwin is uniformly brilliant in this collection. Favorite essays included "Princes and Powers," "A Fly in the Buttermilk," "Nobody Knows My Name," and "Alas, Poor Richard."