Hey, this is NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Chloe Weiner. James Baldwin was born more than

a hundred years ago, but even today he remains a hot topic for writers and scholars. And for good

reason, there are so many ways into Baldwin's work. And the author and academic Nicholas Boggs

has a new perspective, looking at how the writer and civil rights leaders,

lovers, shaped him. Boggs' biography is called Baldwin, a love story. And in today's conversation

with NPR's Michelle Martin, he argues that Baldwin's legacy is one of love. Boggs says we should

look to Baldwin in part as someone who provided an expansive model for how we relate to other people,

both platonically and erotically. That's after the break.

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A hefty new biography of James Baldwin is asking us to read the celebrated writer and civil rights leader through a new lens.

Baldwin, a love story by Nicholas Boggs, centers Baldwin's male lovers, along with his family

and many friends, in order to better understand him and his works. To learn about the book,

we took a trip to Harlem, New York, where Baldwin was born with author and scholar Nicholas Boggs.

Here we are at James Baldwin Place at 128th Street and Fifth Avenue. He and his family moved around a lot in this area.

Yeah, like a lot of people without money.

Yeah, exactly.

He's got kicked out of places.

You got to move.

Plus, they had a lot of kids in that house.

...