Blues For Mister Charlie
by James Baldwin

Name: Blues For Mister Charlie
Brand: James Baldwin
SKU: 9780679761785
Rating: 4.5 (2126 reviews)

Blues For Mister Charlie Book Cover — Blues For Mister Charlie Cover

Highlights

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120 minsAmerican

What readers are saying

Readers appreciate the intense emotional depth of the play, noting its powerful exploration of race and social justice. Many feel James Baldwin's writing remains highly relevant, reflecting ongoing societal issues. The play evokes a range of feelings, from sadness to hope, as it delves into the complexities of human relationships in a racially charged context.

Emotionally powerful narrativeRelevance to today's issuesDeep character explorationBrilliant writing by BaldwinSome found it a difficult readPacing can feel slow at times

Synopsis

An award-winning play from one of America’s most brilliant writers about a murder in a small Southern town, loosely based on the 1955 killing of Emmett Till.

• "A play with fires of fury in its belly, tears of anguish in its eyes, a roar of protest in its throat."

—

The New York Times

James Baldwin turns a murder and its aftermath into an inquest in which even the most well-intentioned whites are implicated—and in which even a killer receives his share of compassion.

In a small Southern town, a white man murders a black man, then throws his body in the weeds.

With this act of violence, James Baldwin launches an unsparing and at times agonizing probe of the wounds of race.

For where once a white storekeeper could have shot a "boy" like Richard Henry with impunity, times have changed.

And centuries of brutality and fear, patronage and contempt, are about to erupt in a moment of truth as devastating as a shotgun blast.