Insight worthy of Baldwin

Go ahead, admit it: The documentary series “Biography” frequently supplies some of life’s guilty pleasures: the tales of a love affair between the princess and the royal guard, the disappointing life of a former child star or the pro wrestler’s steroid use.

But tonight, “Biography” is far more compelling than the personality-driven fluff that sometimes fills out the series schedule. “James Baldwin: Witness” (8 p.m., A&E;) is a detailed portrait of the stepson of a hypercritical Harlem preacher who, with just a high school education, went on to become one of America’s most distinguished authors and most eloquent African American social critics.

Baldwin, who died in 1987, drew his themes from American daily life, then gave them an immediacy and a passion derived from his personal pain. The father-son relationship at the center of his first novel, “Go Tell It on the Mountain” (1953), closely resembles his troubled dealings with his stepfather.

The program, narrated by Danny Glover, acknowledges some of Baldwin’s personal demons, his life as an expatriate and his homosexuality. But commentary by authors and family, along with an extensive collection of film footage, successfully fixes the complex author’s place in the civil rights movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s and offers insight into the unique literary vision of a true American son.