The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781501126345)

The New York Times bestseller, these groundbreaking essays and poems about race--collected by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward and written by the most important voices of her generation--are "thoughtful, searing, and at times, hopeful. The Fire This Time is vivid proof that words are important, because of their power to both cleanse and to clarify" (USA TODAY).

In light of recent tragedies and widespread protests across the nation, The Progressive magazine republished one of its most famous pieces: James Baldwin's 1962 "Letter to My Nephew," which was later published in his landmark book, The Fire Next Time. Addressing his fifteen-year-old namesake on the one hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Baldwin wrote: "You know and I know, that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon."

Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward knows that Baldwin's words ring as true as ever today. In response, she has gathered short essays, memoir, and a few essential poems to engage the question of race in the United States. And she has turned to some of her generation's most original thinkers and writers to give voice to their concerns.

The Fire This Time is divided into three parts that shine a light on the darkest corners of our history, wrestle with our current predicament, and envision a better future. Of the eighteen pieces, ten were written specifically for this volume.

In the fifty-odd years since Baldwin's essay was published, entire generations have dared everything and made significant progress. But the idea that we are living in the post-Civil Rights era, that we are a "post-racial" society is an inaccurate and harmful reflection of a truth the country must confront. Baldwin's "fire next time" is now upon us, and it needs to be talked about.

Contributors include Carol Anderson, Jericho Brown, Garnette Cadogan, Edwidge Danticat, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, Mitchell S. Jackson, Honoree Jeffers, Kima Jones, Kiese Laymon, Daniel Jose Older, Emily Raboteau, Claudia Rankine, Clint Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Wendy S. Walters, Isabel Wilkerson, and Kevin Young.

Author: Jesmyn Ward
ISBN-10: 1501126342
ISBN-13: 9781501126345
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Language: English
Published: 08/02/2016
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 1.00d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 8.2
Point Value: 9
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 184116 / Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 03/01/2016 pg. 83
Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2016
Publishers Weekly 06/06/2016
Library Journal 06/15/2016 pg. 91
Booklist 07/01/2016 pg. 6
Shelf Awareness 08/09/2016
Library Journal 03/01/2016