{"product_id":"the-fire-this-time-9781685890025","title":"The Fire This Time","description":"James Baldwin's \u003ci\u003eThe Fire Next Time\u003c\/i\u003e was one of the essential books of the sixties, and one of the most galvanizing statements of the American civil rights movement. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Now, with a new generation of Americans confronting what Baldwin called our racial nightmare, acclaimed writer Randall Kenan asks: How far have we come? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Combining elements of memoir and commentary, Kenan's critical eye ranges from his childhood to the present to observe that, while there have been dramatic advances, some old issues have combined with new ones to bedevil us: \"Nigger\" has become a hip usage; the African-Americans that have finally attained prominent political positions are, more often than not, arch-conservatives; the Christian and Muslim religions so central to the civil rights movement have become more intolerant, while the stirring spiritual music that inspired it has been replaced by an aggressive form of hip-hop. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Starting with W. E. B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King, Jr., Kenan expands the discussion to include many of today's most powerful personalities, such as Oprah Winfrey, O. J. Simpson, Clarence Thomas, Rodney King, Sean \"Puffy\" Combs, George Foreman, and Barack Obama. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Published to mark the forty-fifth anniversary of James Baldwin's epochal work, this homage by novelist, essayist, and Baldwin biographer Kenan is itself a piercing consideration of the times, and an impassioned call to transcend them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Kenan, Randall\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/12\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Melville House Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781685890025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 160","brand":"Randall Kenan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39740161097803,"sku":"9781685890025","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0021\/1697\/6715\/products\/img_69f91be4-74ab-4f8c-8a6e-72e700fc63c1.jpg?v=1650392129","url":"https:\/\/blackbookstore.com\/products\/the-fire-this-time-9781685890025","provider":"Black Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}