Observer, Oct 28, 1979. p.38

‘Apocalyptic Gospel’, Anthony Thwaite

Review of Just Above My Head:

‘As preacher and polemicist, JB has had as long an innings as he had as a novelist. Both the polemics and the fiction have carried the same message – that racial and sexual barriers are built on the same flimsy but obdurate ground: heterosexual loathing of homosexuals, white loathing of blacks, are part of a common fear. But, the novels seem to say, there are no such categories, no such divides: only individuals. NP: It doesn’t in fact look such a radical message today; and Baldwin has helped to make it familiar’.