The Devil Finds Work

Summary

Baldwin’s personal reflections on movies gathered here in a book-length essay are also a probing appraisal of American racial politics. Offering an incisive look at racism in American movies and a vision of America’s self-delusions and deceptions, Baldwin challenges the underlying assumptions in such films as In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and The Exorcist.

Here are our loves and hates, biases and cruelties, fears and ignorance reflected by the films that have entertained us and shaped our consciousness. And here too is the stunning prose of a writer whose passion never diminished his struggle for equality, justice, and social change.

About the Author

James Baldwin was born in 1924 and educated in New York City. He is author of more than twenty works of fiction and non-fiction, including Go Tell It on the Mountain, Notes of Native Son, Giovanni’s Room, Nobody Knows My Name, Another Country, The Fire Next Time, Going to Meet the Man, Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone and No Name in the Street. He died in 1987.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Vintage
• Literary Criticism