THE FIRE NEXT TIME (audiobook) by James Baldwin

 





Read by Jesse L. Martin.
Duration: 2 hours, 45 minutes.
Unabridged.

James Baldwin (1924-1987) was an African-American essayist, playwright, poet and novelist. This book is a collection of two lengthy essays on race and religion in the United States. The book comes from a line from the song Mary Don't You Weep:

God gave Noah the rainbow sign
No more water, the fire next time.

The first essay is in the format of a letter to his nephew entitled "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation."  As suggested by the title, it is about America's ugly racial history, including incidents from Baldwin's life.

The second, longer essay is "Down at the Cross: A Region in my Mind." This is a discussion of religion in America, including how Christianity had been warped into a tool to prop up a social structure that kept whites on top and blacks on the bottom waiting for their justice to come in the afterlife. It includes an interesting story of a dinner he had with the head of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad at Muhammad's home. 

The author in 1964.
This is a short audiobook, but it is an intense one. It clocks in at 2 hours and 45 minutes, but feels much longer because there is not an ounce of fluff anywhere to be found. The reader is the veteran Broadway, film and movie actor Jesse L. Martin and I think he hit the right tone throughout. 

While reading this audiobook I decided to do some research on James Baldwin because I was woefully ignorant except to recognize his photograph and the time period that he wrote in. I found this video of a debate between Baldwin and William F. Buckley, one of the founders of the modern Conservative movement. It is an excellent summary of what Baldwin says in this audiobook. Buckley is a renowned debater but he gets his clock cleaned in this debate because Baldwin is so good and Buckley has chosen to defend the indefensible. 

I rate this audibook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE FIRE NEXT TIME (audiobook) by James Baldwin.

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