'A scrupulous biography' - Publishers Weekly

'Fresh, incisive, and uplifting' - Kirkus

In the first major biography of Baldwin in more than a decade, Bill V. Mullen celebrates the life of the great African-American writer who created some of the most important literary work of his time, including the novels Go Tell It on the Mountain and If Beale Street Could Talk.

As a lifelong anti-imperialist, black queer advocate, and feminist, James Baldwin was a passionate chronicler of the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, the US war against Vietnam, the Palestinian liberation struggle and the rise of LGBTQ+ rights.

In James Baldwin: Living in Fire, Mullen pays homage to Baldwin's truly radical approach to his life, writing and activism. Fighting towards what he hoped would be a post-racial society, Baldwin's philosophy was tragically ahead of its time, predicting what has become the new civil rights movement of today.