Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone

By: James Baldwin

Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly

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.

"Baldwin is one of the few genuinely indispensable American writers." —Saturday Review

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.

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.

Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone is overpowering in its vitality and extravagant in the intensity of its feeling.

Critic reviews

"A surpassing achievement, not likely to be equaled in our time." —The Washington Post

"Baldwin is one of the few genuinely indispensable American writers." —Saturday Review

"He has not himself lost access to the sources of his being—which is what makes him read and awaited by perhaps a wider range of people than any other major American writer." —The Nation

Long story

James Baldwin seems to ramble somewhat when he is telling a story. I did not understand the ending, but maybe I missed something with the going back and forth. I think I needed closure because I was unsure what happened to the characters.