by Jesmyn Ward
First published 2016
National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward returns to James Baldwin's 1963 work The Fire Next Time as her starting point. She gathers eighteen contemporary voices to examine race in America today. The collection includes short essays, memoir pieces, and poems from leading writers and thinkers of her generation. Ward divides the anthology into three sections that illuminate America's racial history, examine present conditions, and imagine future possibilities. Ten pieces were written specifically for this volume. The editor argues that claims of a postracial society miss the reality that Baldwin's warnings have come to pass. Fifty years after Baldwin addressed his teenage nephew about the premature celebration of freedom's centennial, his observations remain accurate. The contributors wrestle with recent tragedies and nationwide protests while engaging fundamental questions about race in the United States. Ward brings together original voices to continue Baldwin's urgent conversation about America's unfinished racial reckoning.
Genres: race, essays, american, african-american, non-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: social-commentary, urgent-conversation
Setting: America, United States
Period: 1963, 21st-century
226 pages · Hardcover · Scribner
Content warnings: racism