The Fire Next Time

by James Baldwin Narrated by Jesse Martin

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Although written in 1967, it's time we all caught up with James Baldwin and read (or re-read) this book now. Even our best intentions need to be checked, and James Baldwin's words are the way. A voice from the past, needed as much today and even more so than yesterday. Please don't wait for tomorrow.

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 CoatesAt 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.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"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

"So eloquent in its passion and so scorching in its candor that it is bound to unsettle any reader." —The Atlantic

JULY 2008 - AudioFile

There are few books that evoke the dreams and motivations of the "Age of Aquarius" as clearly as Baldwin's polemic on race and the future. Actor Jesse L. Martin effectively re-creates the tone and tenor of the author's view of America at the beginning of the 1960s. Martin chooses to eschew accents and flowery modulations and sticks to the story of Baldwin's fascinating encounter with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad and his own search for spiritual meaning in an America filled with racial strife. Most striking is Baldwin's reference to Robert Kennedy’s prediction that a black man would become the nation’s president sometime in the next forty years. THE FIRE NEXT TIME was published in 1963. R.O. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169803952
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	02/19/2008
Edition description:	Unabridged

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