The Evidence of Things Not Said employs the rich essays of James Baldwin to interrogate the politics of race in American democracy. Lawrie Balfour advances the political discussion of Baldwin's work, and regards him as a powerful political thinker whose work deserves full consideration.Baldwin's essays challenge appeals to race-blindness and formal but empty guarantees of equality and freedom. They undermine white presumptions of racial innocence and simultaneously refute theories of persecution that define African Americans solely as innocent victims. Unsettling fixed categories, Baldwin's essays construct a theory of race consciousness that captures the effects of racial identity in everyday experience.Balfour persuasively reads Baldwin's work alongside that of W. E. B. Du Bois to accentuate how double consciousness works differently on either side of the color line. She contends that the allusiveness and incompleteness of Baldwin's essays sustains the tension between general claims about American racial history and the singularity of individual experiences. The Evidence of Things Not Said establishes Baldwin's contributions to democratic theory and situates him as an indispensable voice in contemporary debates about racial injustice.
Lawrie Balfour is Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia.
What People are Saying About This
David A. Leeming
In The Evidence of Things Not Said, Lawrie Balfour has made a major contribution to Baldwin studies. For the first time, Baldwin's work is considered in the context of political theory and American ideals of democracy. The result is a brilliant explanation of Baldwin's relevance to the post-civil rights era.
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
"Lawrie Balfour, a rising young scholar, offers a bright new perspective on an important on-going discussion: James Baldwin's engagement in the interplay of political theory and race. The Evidence of Things Not Said is a remarkable book about America."
Lewis Gordon
Lawrie Balfour's original book carefully explores James Baldwin's contribution to the democratic project as well as the unique challenges Baldwin posed to its understanding. Sure to be a classic in Baldwin studies, The Evidence of Things Not Said is a pleasure to read and an important piece of work.