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Powell's Staff: New Literature in Translation: November 2023 (0 comment)
Here we are, with our final literature in translation round-up of 2023! And what a year it’s been, full of great books from around the world, all enthusiastically recommended by Powell’s booksellers. We’ll be back with a new post in January 2024, but until then, we hope you enjoy these eight new titles, released in November. On this list...
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  • Powell's Staff: Best Books of 2023: Fiction (0 comment)
  • Powell's Staff: Best Books of 2023: Nonfiction (3 comments)

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The Fire Next Time

by James Baldwin
The Fire Next Time

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  • Synopses & Reviews

ISBN13: 9780679744726
ISBN10: 067974472X
Condition: Standard


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From Powells.com

Black History Month

Staff recommendations, guest essays, and curated reading lists.


Black Lives Matter

Staff Pick

A masterclass in political discourse that is also one of the most profound treatises on love I've ever read. Baldwin continues to outpace contemporary writers and thinkers on race, American-ness, and the sheer import of our entanglement with and responsibility to other people. Hugely compelling and as contemporary ideologically as it was in 1963 (for real, his speech "Talk to Teachers" from the same year reads with the same urgency as when he gave it).  Recommended By SitaraG, Powells.com

First and foremost, The Fire Next Time is the most powerful account of being black in America that I have ever read. However, it is also a beautiful exploration of love, hate, history, death, and the universal human need to make art in order to heal. Baldwin delves into the darkness of humanity without ever once turning away from the light. Recommended By Marlena W., Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

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 a classic of our literature.

Review

"Basically the finest essay I’ve ever read.... 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

Review

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

About the Author

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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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 4.3 (3 comments)

`
Tracey , March 03, 2018 (view all comments by Tracey)
This was a stunning read that pulled no punches. As apt today as it was when it was written, it is truly a must read for everyone. I found that rather than reading through it quickly I had to take a few pages at a time so that I could really ponder and digest his words. Amazing.

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`
a reader , February 25, 2017
Everyone should be lucky enough to read this book, a primer on the mid-20th-century American black experience that is also a guide to all race relations in the United States. Baldwin is a superb writer, and every sentence reads as though it should be etched permanently on a wall somewhere. There is nothing highly philosophical in the style, so you don't realize how powerful the writing (and the message) is until you finish and realize how far you've come in your thinking from where you began. A masterpiece you will return to again and again.

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`
lukas , December 03, 2013 (view all comments by lukas)
An urgent, incisive long essay that mixes autobiography with observations on race. Noteworthy is a meeting with Elijah Muhammad and a young Malcolm X. This title comes up a lot in relation to race riots. Also see "Nobody Knows My Name."

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780679744726
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
12/01/1992
Publisher:
PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE
Series info:
Vintage International
Pages:
128
Height:
.36IN
Width:
5.30IN
Thickness:
.25
Age Range:
14 to 14
Grade Range:
9 to 9
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
1992
Series Volume:
TM 11-5895-808-13-6
UPC Code:
2800679744728
Author:
James Baldwin
Media Run Time:
B
Subject:
United States Race relations.
Subject:
African Americans
Subject:
Race relations
Subject:
Ethnic Studies-Immigration
Subject:
Afro-americans
Subject:
Black muslims
Subject:
United states
Subject:
Ethnic Studies-Racism and Ethnic Conflict

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