James Baldwin has been seen as a prophet, as a suspect, as the greatest American essayist in history. He was also a sharp examiner of the urban environment. He captured the rhythms of city life, the character and habits and various circumstances of their inhabitants, as well as he captured the broader character of cultures, populations, and institutions. His descriptions of Paris,where he lived and wrote for many years, range from the comfort of cafes to the institutional violence and absurd bureaucracy of a Parisian jail. ... His writings on New York City, and especially on his birthplace of Harlem, are marked by vividness and specificity. 

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• “Fifth Avenue, Uptown,” Esquire, 1960: There is a housing project standing now where the house in which we grew up once stood, and one of those stunted city trees is snarling where our doorway used to be. This is on the rehabilitated side of the avenue. The other side of the avenue — for progress takes time — has not been rehabilitated yet and it looks exactly as it looked in the days when we sat with our noses pressed against the windowpane, longing to be allowed to go "across the street." The grocery store which gave us credit is still there, and there can be no doubt that it is still giving credit. The people in the project certainly need it — far more, indeed, than they ever needed the project. The last time I passed by, the Jewish proprietor was still standing among his shelves, looking sadder and heavier but scarcely any older. Further down the block stands the shoe-repair store in which our shoes were repaired until reparation became impossible and in which, then, we bought all our "new" ones. The Negro proprietor is still in the window, head down, working at the leather.

• “Equal in Paris,” Notes of a Native Son, 1955: The moment I began living in French hotels I understood the necessity of French cafes.