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The New Society | culture from the New Statesman

The New Society | culture from the New Statesman

James Baldwin would be a leading progressive voice today

May 2, 2026 · 30m

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About this episode

For decades, James Baldwin has stood as one of the most piercing moral voices of the 20th century, But Baldwin himself has remained, in his own words, elusive. A new biography by Nicholas Boggs - Baldwin: A Love Story - sets out to change that. Drawing on newly uncovered archives and decades of research, Boggs reframes Baldwin’s life through an intimate and sometimes unsettling lens: love. Luke O'Reilly sits down with Nicholas Boggs to discuss Baldwin’s loves and contradictions, the relationship between intimacy and politics, and why Baldwin’s insistence that “love is the only reality” might matter more now than ever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.