Going to Meet the Man

In these eight short stories, James Baldwin provides a glimpse into the lives of men and women who use various coping mechanisms to face their suffering. The jazz pianist uses heroin to face his terror of pouring his life into an inanimate instrument; the father feels betrayed by his son for his illegitimacy; and the redneck deputy uses bigotry as a screen to blunt a childhood memory of watching a black man being murdered by a gleeful mob. These stories are both haunting and heartbreaking, providing a glimpse into lives that are at once both courageous and damning.