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Title details for The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin - Available

The Fire Next Time

by James Baldwin
Jesse Martin
Audiobook
2 of 5 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
2 of 5 copies available

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - The book that galvanized the nation, gave voice to the emerging civil rights movement in the 1960s—and still lights the way to understanding race in America today. - "The finest essay I've ever read." —Ta-Nehisi CoatesAt 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 from the iconic author of If Beale Street Could Talk and Go Tell It on the Mountain. 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 a classic of literature.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 1, 2008

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780792753667
      • File size: 69930 KB
      • Duration: 02:25:41

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 1300
    • Text Difficulty: 10-12

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      There are few books that evoke the dreams and motivations of the "Age of Aquarius" as clearly as Baldwin's polemic on race and the future. Actor Jesse L. Martin effectively re-creates the tone and tenor of the author's view of America at the beginning of the 1960s. Martin chooses to eschew accents and flowery modulations and sticks to the story of Baldwin's fascinating encounter with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad and his own search for spiritual meaning in an America filled with racial strife. Most striking is Baldwin's reference to Robert Kennedy's prediction that a black man would become the nation's president sometime in the next forty years. THE FIRE NEXT TIME was published in 1963. R.O. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 26, 2008
      Speakers or headsets will have to be turned up to listen to Jesse L. Martin's low, slow reading of Baldwin's classic long essay on racism and African-American identity. Martin seeks to be respectful of Baldwin, but he ends up rendering the meaning and the force of his work relatively inert. Pausing in poorly selected places, placing emphasis where little should be placed, Martin does not convey the precision and anger of Baldwin's prose. Instead, Baldwin's book becomes Great Literature, to be intoned and honored, but not truly grasped. Readers with an interest in Baldwin's work will be far better served by reading his prose to themselves than having Martin read it to them. A Vintage paperback.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:1300
  • Text Difficulty:10-12

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