It was the nonfiction books - Notes of a Nation Son (1955), Nobody Knows My Name (1961), and The Fire Next Time (1963) - "that secured his reputation as an important American writer and social critic" (http://www.africana.com, pg. 1). ... Notes of a Native Son marked the formal entry of Baldwin into the literary tradition of the personal essay. ... Baldwin's 1949 essay Everybody's Protest Novel and 1951 essay Many Thousands Gone, however, both of which criticized Wright's Native Son, created a lasting break in that friendship. ...

• Word Count: 2618
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School