Reviews

While it was written in the early 60's, in the midst of the civil rights era with which most Americans are familiar, there's a sense that it could have been composed and published within the last year. Baldwin's attempts to play cultural soothsayer are justified and, in many ways, appropriate. In a sense, there's a quality of Aime Cesaire's "Discourse Sur le Colonialisme" in that oppressed persons are not the only one's rendered inhuman by the actions of sociocultural dominant members of society. It seems almost as if he's drawing from his past as a pastor to deliver a sermon full of passion that intoxicates those consuming his words. Regardless of your politics, there is a sense of societal shift from one direction back towards a, blessedly, bygone era. However, this cultural discomfort (in my.mind) speaks towards a desire to shift our society back to an era prior to the one in which America started to become disenchanted with itself. Given all of this, it's of little wonder that contemporary scholars look to Baldwin as someone from which they can gather their strength to write with the heat necessary to move the reader. I contend that this book wasn't ahead of its time. Rather, I feel as if this book is just one of the first chapters in a really good book detailing how shitty we've been to one another. This realization fills me with sadness because, while strides have been made, there hasn't been enough momentum to sustain these changes. In this sense, Baldwin's work has a Fitzgerald-esque sense to it. We have been defined by our past and, until we deal with it, and continue to deal with it, we'll be borne back ceaselessly into the past.

danniknowsbest's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5⭐️

jmoore586's review against another edition

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5.0

So good.

ebeaver's review against another edition

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5.0

I finished The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin last night. This was a quick read packed with perspective. I appreciated that the book was written as a letter to Baldwin’s nephew and it rings with love and care in the midst of deep conversation. One of the most moving passages for me was this quote: “I know what the world has done to my brother and how narrowly he has survived it. And I know, which is much worse, and this is the crime of which I accuse my country and my countrymen, and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them, that they have destroyed and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it and do not want to know it. “ I gave this book 5 stars. Unfortunately, this book is highly relevant to present times despite being written decades ago. My final observation is that in this book Baldwin speaks of being “against a loveless world” and I can’t help but wonder if this line inspired the title to the book by that title I reviewed last fall?

christinamapes's review against another edition

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5.0

This was a re-read for me (I read it before in college) and it's sad how relevant it still is.

aaronwhite's review against another edition

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5.0

You know a book is really good when you feel you must approach it with trepidation. Each line of Baldwin’s missive (really two letters from Baldwin - one brief and one long - to his nephew, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Emancipation in the USA) is both sharp and blunt. He sharply cuts incisively into the heart of the historical and contemporary oppression of Black people in the West, and bluntly gut-punches any attempt at justification or prevarication. It is largely based upon his own autobiography, his own rearing in a ghetto surrounded by poverty, drugs and churches, none of which offered any true liberation in Baldwin’s mind. At a certain point in his life he did escape into the Church, but ultimately did not find the truth of love therein. At another point he was invited to meet with Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, but likewise could not see the liberating truth of love in calling all white people devils and working for a separation of states, black and white. Baldwin is incredibly wise and perceptive, deeply and consistently aware of the diagnosis and prognosis of America’s racial line, and forthrightly adamant in his prescription of love. Not sentimental love, mind. Love that enables people to see things - especially ourselves - as they really are, no matter how painful the glance. His book ends with hope, but also a warning. The opportunity exists (he wrote in 1969) to reexamine everything, to recreate a country on the foundation of total liberty for black people, which would actually lead to genuine liberty for white people. But he is unsure whether it will happen, and, should it not, he invokes the biblical warning that it won’t be the judgement of water, but fire next time.

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