The Fire Next Time
“Basically the finest essay I’ve ever read…Baldwin refused to hold anyone’s hand. He was both direct and beautiful all at once. He did not seem to write to convince you. He wrote beyond you.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates, #1 New York Times bestselling author
An Audible.com bestseller
A BookRiot Pick of the Best Short Nonfiction in Audio
An Electric Literature Pick of Books That Celebrate the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
A Shondaland Pick of Best Books for Black History Month
A Goop Pick of Anti-Racism Books
A BuzzFeed Books Pick of Essential Books about Anti-Racism
Town & Country Magazine Pick of Books about Racism
An Esquire Magazine Pick of Books to Learn about Racism
A Huffington Post Pick of Adult Books about Anti-Racism
An Oprah Magazine Pick to Help Educate Us on Racism in America
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The book that galvanized the nation, gave voice to the emerging civil rights movement in the 1960s—and still lights the way to understanding race in America today. • “The finest essay I’ve ever read.” —Ta-Nehisi Coates
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.
Praise