The Fire Next Time

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'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