Washington Post book reviewer Jonathan Yardley looks back at James Baldwin’s 1955 essay collection, Notes of a Native Son, and quotes a still-timely sentence:
I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.
In an era when too many people love America without criticizing her enough, and too many other people criticize America without loving her enough, Baldwin reminds us that it’s possible– indeed, essential– to do both.
