The Fire Next Time Audiobook By James Baldwin cover art

The Fire Next Time

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The Fire Next Time

By: James Baldwin
Narrated by: Jesse L. Martin
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About this listen

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.

©1962 James Baldwin (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks America
African American Studies Americas Black & African American Cultural & Regional Essays Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence Social Sciences Sociology Specific Demographics United States Nonfiction Inspiring Thought-Provoking Funny Civil rights

Critic reviews

"Searing...brilliant...masterful." ( The New York Times)
"One of the few genuinely indispensable American writers." ( Saturday Review
"Anguished...stabbing...a final plea and warning...to end the racial nightmare." ( Newsweek)

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