Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone

A major work of American literature from a major American writer that powerfully portrays the anguish of being Black in a society that at times seems poised on the brink of total racial war.<br/><br/>"Baldwin is one of the few genuinely indispensable American writers." —Saturday Review<br/><br/>At the height of his theatrical career, the actor Leo Proudhammer is nearly felled by a heart attack. As he hovers between life and death, Baldwin shows the choices that have made him enviably famous and terrifyingly vulnerable.<br/><br/>For between Leo's childhood on the streets of Harlem and his arrival into the intoxicating world of the theater lies a wilderness of desire and loss, shame and rage. An adored older brother vanishes into prison. There are love affairs with a white woman and a younger black man, each of whom will make irresistible claims on Leo's loyalty.<br/><br/>Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone is overpowering in its vitality and extravagant in the intensity of its feeling.