The Fire Next Time
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Product Description
Product Description
Since it was first published, this famous study of the Black Problem in America has become a classic. Powerful, haunting and prophetic, it sounds a clarion warning to the world.
About the Author
Born in Harlem in 1924, Baldwin had an early career as a teenage preacher. He lived in Paris from 1948-1956 and his first novels, the autobiographical GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN and GIOVANNI'S ROOM established him as a promising novelist and anticipated some of the themes of his later works, such as racism and sexuality. He became a prominent spokesperson for racial equality, especially during the civil rights movement. He lived in France during his last years. Baldwin died in 1987.
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First Sentence
Dear James: I have begun this letter five times and torn it up five times. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Dear James: I have begun this letter five times and torn it up five times. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This essay collection is divided into two parts: "My Dungeon Shook" and "Down at the Cross". "Dungeon" is the shorter of the two pieces and is addressed to Baldwin's nephew. Baldwin tells his nephew how to survive living in a racist society (USA of 1960's). The second essay in the collection deals with the Black Islam Movement. Baldwin attacks the ideas of this movement and calls for an end to prejudice. The language, imagery, and ideas Baldwin uses in these two essays is absolutely brilliant. This book receives my highest recommendation.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having read Giovanni's Room and Go Tell It On The Mountain I was still hungry for more Baldwin. He writes some of the most beautiful prose in the English Language that I have ever read. This book, particularly Down At The Cross, is more of a stream of consciousness expressing his deep sadness and rage at the problems of racial injustice in the US - and worldwide. He gives an insightful description of a meeting with the founder of the Nation of Islam and paints a very bleak picture with personal, political and historical detail. I learned more in this short book about the depth of feeling of black Americans regarding their status in America in the early 'sixties than I have anywhere else. A tough read, made more bearable knowing there is now a black president in the Whitehouse. And thank God...
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If anyone doubts that James Baldwin was a pivotal figure in 20th Century American letters, this astonishing little book will remove such doubts forever. Baldwin manages to convey his rage at US WASP-culture without succumbing to the blinding, toxic racism which made the predicament of his people possible in the first place. His plea for tolerance and human decency could only have come from someone who saw how close mid-sixties US society was to anarchic eruption - read it and keep it 'cause it's one you'll return to again and again.
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