From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Fire Next Time is a book by James Baldwin. It contains two essays: "My Dungeon Shook - Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation", and "Down At The Cross - Letter from a Region of My Mind". The first of these is written as a letter to Baldwin's 14 year old nephew, discussing the central role of race in American history. The second deals with the relations between race and religion, focusing in particular on Baldwin's own experience with the Christian church as a youth.
The book was first published in America by Dial Press in 1963, and in Britain by Penguin Books in 1964; the two essays that composed it had previously been published in The Progressive and The New Yorker, respectively. The book met an enthusiastic critical response, and is considered to be one of the most influential books on race relations of its period.
