... assessment of his writing given in a lecture at the University of Chicago, "What are my books about? Well, they"re all written intuitively, reflectively as though I was skiing down a steep mountain slope. There was no time to think. I will soon be seventy, and then seventy-one, and then eighty-three and then a hundred and fifty-seven and then two hundred sixty ... -six and so I pause now and look back, so to speak, at the marks my skis have left on the mountain slopes. I see that I have written again and again about ordinary people who have tried to behave decently in an indecent society...

• Word Count: 2135
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... Harlem" (236). When his stepfather dies in 1943, Baldwin moved to Greenwich Village to pursue his literary dreams. Baldwin had his first novel, "Go Tell It on the Mountain," published in 1953. This novel focused on the life of a young man growing up in Harlem grappling with father issues and his religion. It is represented "Baldwin's passionate ... ...

• Word Count: 1511
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography

... details that it clearly illustrates it: "So I stayed another day. It was Sunday. A great heat wave descended; it was a beautiful day. The sun turned red at three. I started up the mountain and got to the top at four. All those lovely California cotton woods and eucalypti brooded on all sides. Near the peak, there were no more trees, just rocks and ... ...

• Word Count: 1776
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography

... "dreamed of Africa when he was a boy and the long garden benches and the white beaches, so white they hurt your eyes, and the high capes and the great brown mountain." "He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of strength, nor of great fish, nor of fights, nor of contests, nor of his wife ... ...

• Word Count: 2478
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School