--- product_id: 50523882 title: "The Fire Next Time: James Baldwin (Penguin Modern Classics)" price: "281 kr" currency: NOK in_stock: true reviews_count: 10 url: https://www.desertcart.no/products/50523882-the-fire-next-time-james-baldwin-penguin-modern-classics store_origin: NO region: Norway --- # Same-day dispatch before noon Classic Penguin Modern Edition No-quibble returns guaranteed The Fire Next Time: James Baldwin (Penguin Modern Classics) **Price:** 281 kr **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 🔥 Own the book that ignited a movement and still fuels conversations today. ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Fire Next Time: James Baldwin (Penguin Modern Classics) - **How much does it cost?** 281 kr with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.no](https://www.desertcart.no/products/50523882-the-fire-next-time-james-baldwin-penguin-modern-classics) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Risk-Free Purchase:** Enjoy guaranteed no-quibble returns for complete peace of mind. - • **Top-Ranked Bestseller:** Join thousands of readers with a 4.6-star rating and top 5 rank in African American Studies. - • **Fast & Reliable Delivery:** Order before noon and get same-day dispatch—because urgency matters. - • **Timeless Cultural Insight:** Dive into Baldwin’s seminal 1963 essays that shaped civil rights discourse. - • **Premium Collector’s Condition:** Mint condition copy, perfect for your curated bookshelf or gifting. ## Overview The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin is a powerful, critically acclaimed collection of two essays from 1963 that confront racial injustice in America. Presented in a pristine Penguin Modern Classics edition, this book offers profound cultural insight and remains a must-read for anyone engaged in social justice and history. With fast same-day dispatch and a no-quibble return policy, it’s a risk-free addition to your intellectual library. ## Description 'Sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle ... all presented in searing, brilliant prose' The New York Times Book Review We, the black and the white, deeply need each other here if we are really to become a nation James Baldwin's impassioned plea to 'end the racial nightmare' in America was a bestseller when it appeared in 1963, galvanising a nation and giving voice to the emerging civil rights movement. Told in the form of two intensely personal 'letters', The Fire Next Time is at once a powerful evocation of Baldwin's early life in Harlem and an excoriating condemnation of the terrible legacy of racial injustice. 'A seminal meditation on race by one of our greatest writers' Barack Obama 'Baldwin writes with great passion ... it reeks of truth, as the ghettoes of New York and London, Chicago and Manchester reek of our hypocrisy' Sunday Times 'The great poet-prophet of the civil rights movement ... his seminal work' Guardian Review: thought provoking read - This is a pair of essays by the American writer and civil rights activist. The first and very much shorter one, "My Dungeon Shook" is a letter from the author to his namesake nephew on the centenary of the emancipation proclamation by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. He advises him that he "can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a n*****" (my ellipsis), and defines integration to mean that black people "with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it." These themes are expanded in the much longer essay "Down at the Cross", which originally appeared in the "New Yorker" as "Letter from a Region in my Mind" in which he recounts how he sees the growth of black people's consciousness as they grow up in a white-dominated society; his absorption into, and then alienation from the black churches of his youth, and the salvation he thought he could find from the grim realities of life: "When I watched all the children, their copper, brown, and beige faces staring up at me as I taught Sunday school, I felt that I was committing a crime in talking about the gentle Jesus, in telling them to reconcile themselves to their misery on earth in order to gain the crown of eternal life." He says he realised that "the Bible had been written by white men. I knew that, according to many Christians, I was a descendant of Ham, who had been cursed, and that I was therefore predestined to be a slave. This had nothing to do with anything I was, or contained, or could become; my fate had been sealed for ever, from the beginning of time." He spends much of the essay detailing his discussions and disagreements with the Nation of Islam, then led by Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, an organisation which believed that all black people in the US should adopt Islam (or were really already Muslim, so a "readoption") and declare themselves an independent self-governing society. While he understands why the message of this organisation is so powerful and compelling, he cannot accept Elijah's contention that all white people are devils, saying that he "did not care if white and black people married, and that I had many white friends. I would have no choice, if it came to it, but to perish with them, for (I said to myself, but not to Elijah), ‘I love a few people and they love me and some of them are white, and isn’t love more important than colour?" Baldwin concludes that one must "accept the fact, whatever one does with it thereafter, that the Negro has been formed by this nation, for better or for worse, and does not belong to any other – not to Africa, and certainly not to Islam. The paradox – and a fearful paradox it is – is that the American Negro can have no future anywhere, on any continent, as long as he is unwilling to accept his past." There is no alternative but to forge a single nation: "we, the black and the white, deeply need each other here if we are really to become a nation – if we are really, that is, to achieve our identity, our maturity, as men and women. To create one nation has proved to be a hideously difficult task; there is certainly no need now to create two, one black and one white". A hopeful message written at a time in the early 1960s when many struggles still had to be fought. Thought-provoking read. Review: Must read - He is an excellent writer and showcases how being black in the West is often problematic. ## Features - Warning:Not suitable for children over 36 months - New - Mint Condition - Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon - Guaranteed packaging - No quibbles returns ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | 10,886 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 4 in African American Studies 60 in Essays, Journals & Letters 899 in Religion & Spirituality (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 872 Reviews | ## Images ![The Fire Next Time: James Baldwin (Penguin Modern Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81La7k6gVmL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ thought provoking read *by J***R on 4 August 2024* This is a pair of essays by the American writer and civil rights activist. The first and very much shorter one, "My Dungeon Shook" is a letter from the author to his namesake nephew on the centenary of the emancipation proclamation by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. He advises him that he "can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a n*****" (my ellipsis), and defines integration to mean that black people "with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it." These themes are expanded in the much longer essay "Down at the Cross", which originally appeared in the "New Yorker" as "Letter from a Region in my Mind" in which he recounts how he sees the growth of black people's consciousness as they grow up in a white-dominated society; his absorption into, and then alienation from the black churches of his youth, and the salvation he thought he could find from the grim realities of life: "When I watched all the children, their copper, brown, and beige faces staring up at me as I taught Sunday school, I felt that I was committing a crime in talking about the gentle Jesus, in telling them to reconcile themselves to their misery on earth in order to gain the crown of eternal life." He says he realised that "the Bible had been written by white men. I knew that, according to many Christians, I was a descendant of Ham, who had been cursed, and that I was therefore predestined to be a slave. This had nothing to do with anything I was, or contained, or could become; my fate had been sealed for ever, from the beginning of time." He spends much of the essay detailing his discussions and disagreements with the Nation of Islam, then led by Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, an organisation which believed that all black people in the US should adopt Islam (or were really already Muslim, so a "readoption") and declare themselves an independent self-governing society. While he understands why the message of this organisation is so powerful and compelling, he cannot accept Elijah's contention that all white people are devils, saying that he "did not care if white and black people married, and that I had many white friends. I would have no choice, if it came to it, but to perish with them, for (I said to myself, but not to Elijah), ‘I love a few people and they love me and some of them are white, and isn’t love more important than colour?" Baldwin concludes that one must "accept the fact, whatever one does with it thereafter, that the Negro has been formed by this nation, for better or for worse, and does not belong to any other – not to Africa, and certainly not to Islam. The paradox – and a fearful paradox it is – is that the American Negro can have no future anywhere, on any continent, as long as he is unwilling to accept his past." There is no alternative but to forge a single nation: "we, the black and the white, deeply need each other here if we are really to become a nation – if we are really, that is, to achieve our identity, our maturity, as men and women. To create one nation has proved to be a hideously difficult task; there is certainly no need now to create two, one black and one white". A hopeful message written at a time in the early 1960s when many struggles still had to be fought. Thought-provoking read. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Must read *by H***Z on 8 January 2025* He is an excellent writer and showcases how being black in the West is often problematic. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Baldwin at his most bleak *by S***T on 13 March 2009* Having read Giovanni's Room and Go Tell It On The Mountain I was still hungry for more Baldwin. He writes some of the most beautiful prose in the English Language that I have ever read. This book, particularly Down At The Cross, is more of a stream of consciousness expressing his deep sadness and rage at the problems of racial injustice in the US - and worldwide. He gives an insightful description of a meeting with the founder of the Nation of Islam and paints a very bleak picture with personal, political and historical detail. I learned more in this short book about the depth of feeling of black Americans regarding their status in America in the early 'sixties than I have anywhere else. A tough read, made more bearable knowing there is now a black president in the Whitehouse. And thank God... --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.no/products/50523882-the-fire-next-time-james-baldwin-penguin-modern-classics](https://www.desertcart.no/products/50523882-the-fire-next-time-james-baldwin-penguin-modern-classics) --- *Product available on Desertcart Norway* *Store origin: NO* *Last updated: 2026-10-12*