Baldwin’s “fire next time” is now upon us, and it needs to be talked about The Fire This Time “seeks to place the shock of our own times into historical context and, most importantly, to move these times forward” ( Vogue). We’ve made significant progress in the fifty-odd years since Baldwin’s essays were published, but America is a long and painful distance away from a “post-racial society”-a truth we must confront if we are to continue to work towards change. The Fire Next Time is written from the perspective of the author himself, James Baldwin, an African-American who was born into poverty in Harlem in 1924. “An absolutely indispensable anthology” ( Booklist, starred review), The Fire This Time shines a light on the darkest corners of our history, wrestles with our current predicament, and imagines a better future.Įnvisioned as a response to The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin’s groundbreaking 1963 essay collection, these contemporary writers reflect on the past, present, and future of race in America. Baldwin tells James that when he imagines the boy’s face he also sees the face of his brother (James’s father) and the face of his own father (James’s grandfather). In this bestselling, widely lauded collection, Jesmyn Ward gathers our most original thinkers and writers to speak on contemporary racism and race, including Carol Anderson, Jericho Brown, Edwidge Danticat, Kevin Young, Claudia Rankine, and Honoree Jeffers. The Fire Next Time opens with a short letter to Baldwin ’s fourteen-year-old nephew, James, commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. The Fire This Time is vivid proof that words are important, because of their power to both cleanse and to clarify” ( USA TODAY). The New York Times bestseller, these groundbreaking essays and poems about race-collected by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward and written by the most important voices of her generation-are “thoughtful, searing, and at times, hopeful.

The fire within james baldwin