This is a fantastically written biography of James Baldwin that looks at his life and work through the frame of the men that he loved and their lives together. In a few cases the lovers are actually still alive and we get some interviews with them to get their perspective on Baldwin and his work, which is always fantastic when you can get it. Thorough, well written, and absolutely worth picking up in August.

Baldwin: A Love Story is a weighty book, both in terms of its literal size and its subject matter. For anyone who is interested in how the people Baldwin loved influenced his writing this book is a gift. For people who are completely unfamiliar with Baldwin’s work and legacy it might be beneficial to begin with some actual Baldwin, and then return to this book at a later date.

Boggs reports more than once in his biography that whenever Baldwin was asked about his gender choices for sex partners, he nearly always responded that he was bisexual. Over six hundred biographical pages, tens of thousands of document pages pruned, and hundreds of interviews conducted for the making of the biography and not one account of a sexual encounter with a woman, unless one wants to stretch the imagination to glean from Baldwin’s words that as a young man, early in life, there was sexual activity with a young woman he almost married. Boggs mentions the men in Baldwin’s life, beginning with fondlings by older men, including a policeman, of Baldwin when he was a tween, his cruising later in Greenwich Village and in the gay clubs in Paris, his unrequited sexual desire for famous movie stars–Boggs goes to great lengths to find documented evidence outing Marlon Brando–and the young lovers who provided emotional and sexual support for the writing of his major novels. And there was his homosexual entourage and, mentor and friend, Beauford Delaney, his life as an artist and gay man sketched in such broad strokes as to function as a biography within a biography.

Baldwin’s other dear friend, Mary Painter, the constant woman privileged to the details of his lifestyle, through correspondence and visits, is mentioned as a rape victim by one of Baldwin’s friends. As for sexual relations with Baldwin, according to Baldwin, another woman he could have married, Boggs shares no record. As speculation, since Boggs is silent, we can entertain Baldwin’s alleged bisexuality as his imagination manifesting a feminine persona for his sexual affairs with men so at times, he imagined himself to be as a woman. Today, we might call that role-playing.

What are we to think of the sexual women in Baldwin’s later novels, who inspired their creation? Boggs does dive into the voices of Baldwin’s female characters, some of them narrators, in Baldwin’s fiction and plays, suggesting Baldwin’s exploration of a feminine persona. Excluding the earth mothers of his plays, the Amen Corner and No Papers for Muhammed, strong female women characters not unfamiliar to Baldwin, the woman preacher in the teenaged Baldwin’s religious conversion, his soul sisters, Maya Angelou and Nina Simone, both known for their sexual appetites but no indication their relationships with Baldwin were any more than spiritual and platonic. His spiritual sisters may contribute to his female characters who don’t assume sexual roles.

It’s possible Tish in If Beale Street Could Talk was in part influenced by the young woman Baldwin almost married. As for Barbara King in Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone, is it really unlikely she was created by a woman or composite woman in Baldwin’s sexual experiences, lending weight to his constant claim to bisexuality? Who then might that mystery woman be and was she important to Baldwin as were some of his male lovers and passing sexual partners? I appreciate Boggs’ work on describing the importance of his gay lovers, one-night stands, and unrequited homosexual desires on Baldwin’s fiction, but that does not answer the question; Why did James Baldwin insist on being bisexual if his sex life with women is never mentioned by him, if it did exist and wasn’t a beard? If he had female sex partners who were important to his writing and the creating of his writing, if Baldwin’s sex life rises above gossip and is important to his work, where are the women?

To appreciate Boggs’ biography, one has to accept it as a contribution to Queer Studies, which has refocused emerging attention on the work of Baldwin. Boggs’ biography is so far the definitive study on the life and work of James Baldwin. given Boggs’ access to documents and letters unavailable to other biographers, Boggs was able to share more details of Baldwin’s life and his writing, opening up paths for inquiry into the Baldwin legacy by future critics. In passing, I want to say, that David Lemming’s biography, as credited by Boggs, remains valuable.

A serendipitous moment for any biographer is finding a missing document. In Bogg’s case, it’s not a document, but a person, the illustrator of Baldwin’s long out of print children’s book, Little Man, Little Man, Yoran Cazac, who seemed to drop off the map, until letters of cold inquiry written by Boggs to art organizations in Europe turn up the artist himself. Boggs deserves many kudos for the literary coup and getting Little Man, Little Man, back in print.

Thank you to the publisher, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux and NetGalley

Boggs offers a beautifully written, deeply intimate look at James Baldwin’s life and relationships. This book is full of fresh insight into how love, friendship, and creativity shaped Baldwin’s work. A must-read for fans and anyone who appreciates powerful storytelling

A comprehensive and tender book. I was worried that it was not written by a person of color but the subject is clearly extremely close to the authors heart. Learned so much about this amazing beloved author.

This is such a monumental achievement of a biography it’s hard to even know where to begin. James Baldwin is a titan of American thought, one of the most brilliant thinkers this country has ever produced. This book focuses on the relationships, both platonic and romantic, that shaped his thinking and writing. While this book is intimidating in length. It reads so wonderfully, so conversationally that I flew through the book in a matter of days. It pointed me back to Baldwin’s work, and I will be rereading everything so that has to be the highest praise for this amazing book.

In a world often filled with quick reads and subsequent reviews, it was a rather glorious experience to immerse myself in the 700+ page "Baldwin: A Love Story" by Nicholas Boggs.

Noted as the first major biography of James Baldwin in three decades, "Baldwin: A Love Story" reveals just how profoundly Baldwin's personal relationships impacted his life and his literary work.

Boggs taps into a wealth of new archival material, original research, interviews, and his own remarkable narration to paint an immersive story that you never want to leave. For those who know Baldwin's life, such names as Beauford Delaney, Lucien Happersberger, Engin Cezzar, and Yoran Cazac will be familiar yet still likely somewhat mysterious. Somehow, Boggs brings them all wondrously to life in a way that feels remarkably true to the essence of the Baldwin we've long known and the Baldwin we've perhaps never known.

While "Baldwin: A Love Story" is a remarkable effort as a biography, it's perhaps even more remarkable for Boggs's ability to capture this masterful writer's writing process and how it was shaped and developed and nurtured by his relationships whether they be lovers, intimate friends, muses, or mentors.

"Baldwin: A Love Story" unfolds leisurely, lyrically really, and with the rhythms of creative life fully lived in all its complexities. Boggs possesses a subtle narrative voice that illustrates how Baldwin was shaped by the structures within relationships - cultural forces, political movements, artistry, geography and, of course, the erotic. This is an uncompromisingly intimate story that invites us to observe and be shaped by that intimacy in profound ways. While reading, I often felt as if I could see Baldwin in front of me as his many masterpieces unfolded like "Giovanni's Room," "The Fire Next Time," "If Beale Street Could Talk," "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and so many others. This feels like a sublime companion to the riveting documentary "I Am Not Your Negro," and it's a book I've been unable to stop thinking about since I wound down my time with it after two weeks of slow, intentional, and immersive reading.

Indeed, "Baldwin: A Love Story" isn't a quick read. Beyond its over 700-page length, Boggs offers up so many layers of Baldwin you're scared to rush through it for fear of missing an essential fact or story. For Baldwin fans, "Baldwin: A Love Story" is a must-read. For those wanting an in-depth yet lyrical trip through a master writer's creative journey, this is a book to not be missed.