In 1970, Margaret Mead, the pioneering woman anthropologist and author of Coming of Age in Samoa, and James Baldwin, arguably the most influential writer on race in American history, met to have an extraordinary marathon conversation about race and society. A Rap on Race is a candid and brilliant transcript of their discussion that covered personal history and experience of racism, identity, privilege and the power that stems from it, gender, race, and justice. Mead and Baldwin engage with these ideas in a respectful and philosophical way, examining the relationship between the intellect and the imagination.

Mead was a significant voice in second-wave feminism, enlightening society to sexual conventions in Southeast Asia and the Pacific through her anthropological research which continues to draw controversy for its content and her research methods. Her work, no doubt, helped provide a space and conversation about sexual liberation for women.

London: Michael Joseph, 1971. First UK edition, published simultaneously with the American imprint. 256 pages. 22 x 15 x 2.5. Price-clipped. Hardback. Very good book in very good dust jacket.