The Fire Next Time

Baldwin's narrative analysis is a gift replete with a refreshing patience and tough love. ( )

Wonderfully written essays on the experience of being Black in America. Baldwin vividly describes the open, continuous, insidious and pernicious racism faced by people of color every day. These essays are lucid, vivid writings that made me admire the tight, wonderful, writing style while being disgusted at the bigotry and racism that existed when Baldwin wrote the book and which is no better today.
( )

Really interesting to see a Civil Rights bio about someone who wasn’t religious as an adult. The book is still very much about the role religion played in the movement, it would be impossible to ignore that element, but so often it seems that everyone who fought for Civil Rights was either Christian or Muslim, and over simplifies the truth.

Short book, well written, easy to knock out in an evening. ( )

This was an excellent audiobook. ( )

Having just seen the searing "I Am Not Your Negro", I feel I have a lot of catching up to do on Mr. Baldwin's writings. I'll simply say that Baldwin's wisdom and insights are as powerful and relevant today as they were fifty years ago. Baldwin's mix of frustration and hope, of anger and compassion, feels right on target with where Malcolm X had arrived shortly before his assassination. There's an awareness that white America suffers from not knowing and reconciling itself, and until that changes, there can be no peace and fairness for Black America. Baldwin believed we have to heal together, not separately. The struggle with how to do that remains, but Baldwin's words are both a balm and a burst of uncomfortable heat for our continued journey. ( )