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The Fire Next Time

Written by James Baldwin

Hardcover

$22.00 US

Random House Group | Modern Library

4.89"W x 7.53"H x 0.48"D

On sale Jul 06, 2021 | 144 Pages | 978-0-679-60151-7

Grades 9-12 + AP/IB

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A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin's early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document. It consists of two "letters," written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism. Described by The New York Times Book Review as "sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle...all presented in searing, brilliant prose," The Fire Next Time stands as classic literature.

James Baldwin (1924–1987) was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, appeared in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his essay collections Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time were bestsellers that made him an influential figure in the growing civil rights movement. Baldwin spent much of his life in France, where he moved to escape the racism and homophobia of the United States. He died in France in 1987, a year after being made a Commander of the French Legion of Honor.

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Educator Guide for The Fire Next Time

Classroom-based guides appropriate for schools and colleges provide pre-reading and classroom activities, discussion questions connected to the curriculum, further reading, and resources. Many guides are correlated to Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

(Please note: the guide displayed here is the most recently uploaded version; while unlikely, any page citation discrepancies between the guide and book is likely due to pagination differences between a book’s different formats.)

“Sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle . . . all presented in searing, brilliant prose that James Baldwin gives us no matter what form he is working in.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Basically the finest essay I’ve ever read. It’s technically two essays but it feels like one. [James] Baldwin refused to hold anyone’s hand. He was both direct and beautiful all at once. He did not seem to write to convince you. He wrote beyond you.”—Ta-Nehisi Coates, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award winner Between the World and Me

“It was as if I sat on my porch steps with a wise father, a kind, present uncle, who said this to me. Told me I was worthy of love. Told me I was worth something in the world. Told me I was a human being.”—Jesmyn Ward, editor of The Fire This Time and author of the National Book Award winner Sing, Unburied, Sing

“So eloquent in its passion and so scorching in its candor that it is bound to unsettle any reader.”—The Atlantic