A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized
the nation, gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights
movement—and still lights the way to understanding race in America
today.
"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
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.
