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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

Brought to you by Penguin.

'We, the black and the white, deeply need each other here if we are really to become a nation'

James Baldwin's impassioned plea to 'end the racial nightmare' in America was a bestseller when it appeared in 1963, galvanising a nation and giving voice to the emerging civil rights movement. Told in the form of two intensely personal 'letters', The Fire Next Time is at once a powerful evocation of Baldwin's early life in Harlem and an excoriating condemnation of the terrible legacy of racial injustice.

'Jesse L Martin... highlights the rhythmic nature of Baldwin’s prose, and channels his anger and devastation at the unceasing suffering of Black Americans.' (The Guardian)

'A seminal meditation on race by one of our greatest writers.' (Barack Obama)

'Sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle...all presented in searing, brilliant prose.' (The New York Times Book Review)

©1963 James Baldwin (P)2024 Penguin Audio
Black & African American Freedom & Security Racism & Discrimination Religious Studies Social Sciences

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Critic reviews

'Riveting...part of Baldwin's enduring power is that he was not a political thinker. He was interested in the soul's dark spaces much more than in the body politic.' (Colm Toibin)

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Transformational work

This magnificent book is a potent, luminous meditation on race, identity, and the soul of humanity, written with an almost biblical tone that transcends mere commentary and ascends into the realm of prophecy. Baldwin is razor-sharp and tender all at once. His thoughts wrestles with the deepest existential questions of love and hatred, justice and despair, and the moral necessity of truth in a fractured world. It’s a work that demands engagement, not just intellectually but spiritually, calling forth the responsibility of each individual to confront the structures of oppression both within and without.
This is a book that doesn't just speak to you; it demands your transformation.

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love

it open my eyes to see how the world was thinking through James Baldwin 's life. I did not know anything about his writing. it is powerful and strong. there is no inferiority in love. God gave us a rainbow and there is a constant reminder. But let us not lose it to the fire next God could bring it if we do not embrace humanity with love.

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