Brilliant historian Vashna Jagarnath is back!! We have decided to show James Baldwin lots of love in August, with three or four podcast episodes dedicated to the life & times of Baldwin.  If you secretly don't know anything about Baldwin but have been too embarrassed to say so, we will bring you up to speed, and you'll know what the fuss is about. Hopefully it will inspire you to read him, and seek out audio and visual materials featuring him too. There is plenty of primary sources and even more secondary materials and scholarship ABOUT this genius.  If you're already a Baldwin fanatic, you'll know that part of his excellence is that his work remains relevant across time and space, and therefore revisiting him is never a bad idea. In this first episode we narrate his basic biography, locate him ideologically, and begin to introduce you to major themes in his work with more particular focus on racism. Dig in & enjoy!