Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

48 reviews

milesjmoran's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Racism, and Police brutality

crackedspinereviews's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

 

Review: I took a break from my spicy reads to be a little more philosophical and this book was just as fantastic as I had been told it was. The ideas and beliefs presented in this book, throughout the lens of Baldwin’s life journey, were profound and beautifully articulated throughout the entirety of this book. (Picking just one quote for the review snapshot was extremely difficult as I could take a highlighter to 95% of this book). If you are looking for a short and powerful non-fiction read I would recommend this one in a heartbeat!

Likes: Very relevant to our present day, thoroughly articulate, nuanced ideas

Dislikes: I would recommend listening to this as an audiobook as I find that helpful in digesting some of the more formal language and the older and more philosophical style of writing.

Tropes: non-fiction, memoir, philosophical

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

zaracampbell's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Moderate: Slavery

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Slavery, and Racism

thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

It's startling to see how very contemporary this book feels even though it came out over 50 years ago. There were many moments that felt like a sucker punch to the gut. Baldwin is a beautiful writer, and he approaches the issue of race with a level head and a mind towards empathy. I was also surprised by how easy this was to read. The language is very elevated, but it at no point felt inaccessible to me. I'm definitely interested in reading some of his fiction now, and I would recommend everyone (but especially every American) read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Slavery, and Violence

There's not a lot of detailed description of horrible things in here, but this book is about race in the time of the civil rights movement, so expect all the usual suspects of that era to be addressed.

leannanecdote's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Slavery, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Racism, Colonisation, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide and War

erinwolf1997's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Racism

Moderate: Violence and Antisemitism

emily_koopmann's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

theuncannydani's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Islamophobia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Police brutality, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Slavery, Drug abuse, Hate crime, and Trafficking

lily1304's review against another edition

reflective

5.0

Necessary reading. Baldwin was a genius.

I will say that sometimes Baldwin's sentences are difficult to follow, with like, a lot of clauses and commas and I have to carefully find the verb like I'm in middle school English again. I highlighted one as an example:

"But our ignorance and indecision have had the effect, if not of delivering them into Russian hands, of plunging them very deeply into the Russian shadow, for which effect - and it is hard to blame them - the most articulate among them, and the most oppressed as well, distrust us all the more." WHEW.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism