The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.34 (795 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B01JMZEICO |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 238 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-12-01 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Still on My Mind Sarah "The world is before you," I want to tell my daughters, "and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in." --Edwidge Danticat "Message to My Daughters"'The Fire This Time' is a timely, necessary collection of essays on the varied dimensions of Blackness in the contemporary U.S. Divided into three sections--legacy (the past), reckoning (the present), and jubilee (the future)--the compilation not only dedicates time to dissecting white rage, the sickness that has shaped the U.S. since its genesis, but also gives glimpses into the interior lives Black folk lead, the brilliance, the joy, . "A dynamite collection of tinglingly good work" according to Ben Mattlin. A thoughtful, moving, and important collection of essays, poems, and other heartfelt reactions to the current state of race relations in the U.S., this should become required reading for all civics and American literature scholars. (I mean that as a compliment.) As a middle-aged white dude myself, I didn't get all the pop-culture references and some of the African-American dialectical flourishes, but I've come away from this book with a new, deeper understanding of what "black lives matter" truly means (in fact, that could've been an alternate title for this book), for James Baldwin, and for the real. A Great Collection I purchased tickets to see Jesmyn Ward at the Schomburg Center in Harlem, so in preparation, I read this book. It was only fitting that I read James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time before diving in. I have quite a few of Ward's books, but I haven't yet read them. This book was my introduction to her work. I am officially a fan. I wholeheartedly believe James Baldwin would be proud of this collection of essays. It was exactly what my soul needed when more and more it seems that being black in America is a bad thing. Some authors I'd never read prior to this collection but I cannot wait to scour Amazon an
National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward takes James Baldwin's 1963 examination of race in America, The Fire Next Time, as a jumping-off point for this groundbreaking collection of essays and poems about race from the most important voices of her generation and our time. In response she has gathered short essays, memoir, and a few essential poems to engage the question of race in the United States. Addressing his 15-year-old namesake on the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Baldwin wrote, "You know and I know that the country is celebrating 100 years of freedom 100 years too soon." Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward knows that Baldwin's words ring as true as ever today. And she has turned to some of her generation's most original thinkers and writers to give voice to their concerns.. In light of recent tragedies and widespread protests across the nation, The Prog