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farosh 's review for:
The Fire Next Time
by James Baldwin
i have so many thoughts i don't even know where to start.. this book was published over 60 years ago, on a wholly different continent from mine, by a person that couldn't be more different from me in many ways, yet i felt so connected to james baldwin as i was reading this, my eyes glued to the page and just taking everything in deeply. of course we all know, james' way with words is nothing short of brilliance, i have watched many interviews of his and you could almost say that the fire next time is written in a way that feels very oratory, like this could be one very long letter or speech read aloud, while reading i could hear his voice in my head narrating this instead of me reading.
regarding the contents of the book, it's almost scary how relevant the very topics discussed by james 60+ years ago are nowadays in 2025, not only in america but all across the world. this is one of those books everyone should read at least once in their lives, white people most of all of course. it's a short but striking, eloquent, enlightening, important read and i always kept in the back of my mind that 60 years have passed since this was written because it really could have been written 10 years ago, or one or yesterday. the topics very much hold up and even though many many people came after james who continued to fight for the rights of african american people, i think he still describes his ideas in such a perfect way that i'd 100% recommend to read this for yourself with your own eyes.
regarding the contents of the book, it's almost scary how relevant the very topics discussed by james 60+ years ago are nowadays in 2025, not only in america but all across the world. this is one of those books everyone should read at least once in their lives, white people most of all of course. it's a short but striking, eloquent, enlightening, important read and i always kept in the back of my mind that 60 years have passed since this was written because it really could have been written 10 years ago, or one or yesterday. the topics very much hold up and even though many many people came after james who continued to fight for the rights of african american people, i think he still describes his ideas in such a perfect way that i'd 100% recommend to read this for yourself with your own eyes.