Review: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

The Fire Next Time is a classic piece of nonfiction from the 1960s discussing race in America. If you have read Ta-Nehesi Coates Between the World and Me, you should be able to draw connections between the two because Coates's epistolary style of that book was inspired by this work of Baldwins.

This work is split into two letters; the first and much shorter is My Dungeon is Shook, which addresses Black history in America, with specific emphasis on the destruction of the Black man. The second is Down at the Cross, which addresses the way race and religion interconnect in America. He specifically spends his time discussing Christianity and Islam and the vastly different politics each religion was being shaped by at the time and in the past, with an obvious emphasis on the race-based politics of each.

This was a truly fascinating work. I listened to the audiobook for a few minutes and had to turn it off and start over reading it with my eyes because I knew I needed to highlight so many passages in this book, I probably highlighted a fourth of this book. Baldwin has such an excellent writing style that is really well suited to this kind of nonfiction. Though I will say I am now very excited to read his fiction, I just think I am going to love his voice in fiction as well. The book is very short, but in addition to that, Baldwin's way of writing is so clear and imparts information and experience so well. I really love this kind of nonfiction, and Baldwin is so lauded for it because he was excellent.

I loved thinking about the social structures that uphold different ideals and the way Baldwin illustrates those ideals as inherent to the structures he discussed. Baldwin's writing is unflinching in a way that clearly makes me excited to read more from him in the future.

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. I would certainly recommend this book! Especially to those who want to read more about Blackness in the American context, the politics surrounding religion, and people who like to read essay collections.