The Fire Next Time (Vintage International)
At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin's early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document from the iconic author of If Beale Street Could Talk and Go Tell It on the Mountain. It consists of two "letters," written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism. Described by The New York Times Book Review as "sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle...all presented in searing, brilliant prose," The Fire Next Time stands as a classic of literature.
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Readers say *The Fire Next Time* remains powerfully relevant, with Baldwin’s fearless truth-telling cutting deeply into systemic racism and America’s ...
Baldwin writes with stark moral clarity. His words reach out from over 60 years ago to our present day, and sadly still ring true as a clarion call to action. A must read
This book (all James Baldwin’s books, for that matter) is an essential read. To overturn America’s systemic racism, we must better understand ourselves as a nation. It is apparent to me, reading this book 55 years after it was first published, that little has changed. The ugliness of the past has only been buried and it took very little effort for it to be unearthed.
"I could not share the white man’s vision of himself for the very good reason that white men in America do not behave toward black men the way they behave toward each other. When a white man faces a black man, especially if the black man is helpless, terrible things are revealed. I know."
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