'There's no way not to suffer. But you try all kinds of ways to keep from drowning in it.'

The eight stories in this collection showcase the breadth of Baldwin's imagination, empathy and social critique as he explores the subtle and profound wounds that discrimination leaves in both its victims and its perpetrators- from the down-and-out jazz pianist recovering from addiction in 'Sonny's Blues' to the adolescent who hides his burgeoning sexuality from the church community that defines his world in 'The Outing' to the horrifying story of the initiation of a racist, as a deputy sheriff remembers his parents taking him to see the mutilation and murder of a black man by a gleeful mob in 'Going to Meet the Man'.

First published in 1965, these tales of ingenuity, desperation, power and fear provide a snapshot of a writer at the height of his literary powers.