Another Country

The first 100 pages of Another Country, James Baldwin’s third full-length book, are his finest work as a novelist. It is the story of Rufus Scott, an African American jazz musician who has been victimized and aggrieved by racism, so much so that it colors nearly every personal interaction and eventually leads to his suicide. Intense and persuasive, Baldwin details the effects of racism on daily American life. Unfortunately, the remainder of the novel is less impressive, as it explores in a fragmentary way the impact of Rufus’s death on his friends, family and acquaintances.