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I recently read my first two Baldwin books (Go Tell It On The Mountain and The Fire Next Time) and in both cases I was blown away by the completeness of his tre
by habosa 10y ago
I recently read my first two Baldwin books (Go Tell It On The Mountain and The Fire Next Time) and in both cases I was blown away by the completeness of his treatment of racism at a time when black people were fighting for much more basic civil rights.
I also recently read some of the popular modern books about race in America (Between The World and Me, The New Jim Crow, etc) and I found Baldwin just as essential to understanding the world in 2016. Particularly with 'The Fire Next Time', I felt the book achieved its goals perfectly.
- RodericDay 10y agoI haven't read Baldwin, so maybe this comment sells him short, but virtually every time I venture to read pieces american literature written by black people, be it Malcolm X's autobiography, or Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, or Martin Luther King's writings such as "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", or any book about the Black Panthers, I come away with the impression that media as a whole somehow really undersells and sanitizes the depth of the struggle and the imagination of their leaders in a way similar to Thanksgiving Dinners. Every single one of those people was saying things back in their day that are still relevant today, in a way that feels indicting of the progress made thus far.
- astazangasta 10y agoThe Fire Next Time still exactly describes the experience of black America as far as I can tell. I think, actually, we went backwards in many ways, from where we were in the 70s and 80s.
- astazangasta 10y agoNo disrespect to Coates, but I don't think you can read his book correctly without reading Baldwin, just like you can't watch Star Trek Into Darkness without seeing Wrath of Khan.
- zellyn 10y agoThis has to be a contender for the most hackernews comment ever. Fantastic. :-)