A stirring, intimate reflection on the nature of race and American nationhood that has inspired generations of writers and thinkers, first published in 1963, the same year as the March on Washington
"The finest essay I've ever read."--Ta-Nehisi Coates, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award winner Between the World and Me
A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. 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. 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 our literature.
BIO
James Baldwin (1924-1987) was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, was published in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his essay collections Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time were bestsellers that made him an influential figure in the growing civil rights movement. Baldwin spent much of his life in France, where he moved in order to escape the racism and homophobia of the United States. He died in France in 1987, a year after being made a Commander of the French Legion of Honor.
REVIEWS
"Sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle . . . all presented in searing, brilliant prose that James Baldwin gives us no matter what form he is working in." --The New York Times Book Review
"It was as if I sat on my porch steps with a wise father, a kind, present uncle, who said this to me. Told me I was worthy of love. Told me I was worth something in the world. Told me I was a human being." --Jesmyn Ward, editor of The Fire This Time and author of the National Book Award winner Sing, Unburied, Sing
"So eloquent in its passion and so scorching in its candor that it is bound to unsettle any reader." --The Atlantic
[H] Modern Library / July 06, 2021
0.57" H x 7.52" L x 4.94" W (0.44 lbs) 112 pages