Novelist, essayist, and public intellectual James Baldwin was one of the most brilliant and provocative literary figures of the postwar era, and one of the greatest African-American writers of this century. Early Novels and Stories presents the novels and short stories that established Baldwins reputation as a writer who fused unblinking realism with rare verbal eloquence. This volume includes his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), Giovannis Room (1956), and other early works.