The first entry in the Lives of Notable Gay Men and Lesbians series, Kenan's biography of Baldwin is both a literary history and a life story. Readers experience the pain and the poverty of Baldwin's early days in Paris as well as his growing artistic sophistication, getting a sense of Baldwin's family, early religious fervor, and life as a black homosexual in a white world. Baldwin's sexuality is included as a part of his life and plays a minor role in the text (mainly in illustrating discrimination against gay men and lesbians).