Author James Baldwin famously said, “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.” If you've never read one of James Baldwin's novels, Go Tell It On The Mountain, If Beale Street Could Talk, or Giovanni's Room, or his essays in The Fire Next Time or Notes of a Native Son, you should go do that. Immediately. Meanwhile, to gain an introduction, or a re-introduction, to one of America's most profound and beautiful voices, listen to my take on Baldwin's short story, "Sonny's Blues." Along the way, you'll get an earful, haha, on how songs sung by slaves are the foundation of virtually every American musical genre. And you'll hear why books are both windows and mirrors, and why we need both, now more than ever.