The Fire this TimeJames Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time" was one of the essential books of the sixties, and one of the most galvanizing statements of the American civil rights movement. Now, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, with a new generation of Americans confronting what Baldwin called our "racial nightmare," acclaimed writer Randall Kenan asks: How far have we come? Combining elements of memoir and commentary, Kenan's critical eye ranges from his childhood to the present to observe that, while there have been dramatic advances, some old issues have combined with new ones to bedevil us: "Nigger" has become a hip usage; the African-Americans that have finally attained prominent political positions are, more often than not, arch-conservatives; the Christian and Muslim religions so central to the civil rights movement have become more intolerant, while the stirring spiritual music that inspired it has been replaced by an aggressive form of hip-hop. Starting with W. E. B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King, Jr., Kenan expands the discussion to include many of today's most powerful personalities, such as Oprah Winfrey, O. J. Simpson, Clarence Thomas, Rodney King, Sean "Puffy" Combs, George Foreman, and Barack Obama. Published to mark the forty-fifth anniversary of James Baldwin's epochal work, this homage by novelist, essayist, and Baldwin biographer Kenan is itself a piercing consideration of the times, and an impassioned call to transcend them. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
African American Baldwin became become Billy Dee Williams Black America Black Church black conservative black male black middle class black person blues boxing Brer Fox Brother Fox Brother Rabbit Brown called century Chinquapin civil rights culture dark death despite Dream Duplin County Edythe Elijah Muhammad existential famous father films Fire grandfather Harlem Harris hip-hop Honorable Elijah Muhammad idea Jim Crow Joel Chandler Harris John Johnson knew lived look Malcolm Malcolm X Mama Martin Luther King ment miscegenation Miss Underwood mother movie Nation of Islam Negro Neil DeGrasse Tyson never nigger North Carolina Obama once Oprah Perhaps political president race racial religion remember seemed seen sense slave Sorrow Songs soul sport story talk thing tion tobacco trickster true ultimately voice W. E. B. Du Bois women word write