The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race

4.5 StarsI’m very grateful for the opportunity to read this collection of essays, a topic that seems to be everywhere, in the news, as well as nonfiction and fiction books. The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward is timely as a topic, but it’s tragic that it needed to be written.Some of these essays are better than others, but all are worth reading. You’ll recognize the names of people you’ve read about, heard some of the details of their tragic stories. The details of areas where the high racial tension has made the news, where the body count keeps rising for crimes no greater than “Walking while black.” Most of these essays have a deeply personal essence about them, even when they are not always talking about themselves. It’s personal. It’s all personal. Some are stories told to them by other family members, parents, grandparents, events witnessed. Stories, not surprisingly, about police brutality.Inspired by James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, Ward has put together a thought-provoking group of essays. As in any group of writing by different authors, some of these are better than others, but all are more than worthy of your time.Contributors include: Carol Anderson, Jericho Brown, Garnette Cadogan, Edwide Danticat, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, Mitchell S. Jackson, Honoree Jeffers, Kima Jones, Kiese Laymon, Daniel Jose Older, Emily Raboteau, Clint Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Wendy S. Walters, Isabel Wilkerson and Kevin Young.Thank you to Scribner, NetGalley and to editor / author Jesmyn Ward for providing me with an advanced copy for reading and review.

I cried reading the introduction. This book is so powerful and moving.

This collection of writings by poets, novelists, historians, and essayists addresses American tragedies of the early 21st century. These tragedies all involve the sanctioned massacres of African-Americans.Raw emotions fuel the writings and reflect anger and despair, but also remind us that humanity has the power to change – to envision, create and restore justice.

The book is very successful in giving feed back and though provoking insight into the needs of the millennium life and times.

Outstanding, thought-provoking collection. Especially important at this time in our nation.

This collection of work took me on an eye-opening experience. Each piece meshes with the overall theme so well and the flow is so natural that you can’t help but immerse yourself in the poetry, essays, and stories of each writer. It’s refreshing to see the diverse dynamic in which race can be talked about and how each mode of writing packs its own punch be it subtle or right in your face. Many of the pieces served as education and teaching on some of the culture and backstories I did not know of, even amongst our own culture.Truly, this work is to be studied, to be felt, to be read without bias and with attention to the rhythm inside of each and every piece. What a way to honor Baldwin’s legacy, what a way to show gratitude to his life, and what a way to tell the world that the writings and stories of generations both past and present are still detrimental to our salvaging. Still thriving. Still neccessary. Still eternal. Still being written.

James Baldwin is having a well-deserved moment, and Jesmyn Ward is gutsy to title her book so audaciously as to echo Baldwin’s most famous essay.To her credit, nearly every essay in this book lives up to the spirit of Baldwin with strong, evocative prose and, occasionally, poetry, from some of Ward’s generation of fine, fine writers. I thought about naming those essays I liked best but am having a hard time, although Honore Fanzine Jeffers’s work about Phillis Wheatley’s husband and Edwidge Danticat’s closing essay are both memorable, while Wendy Walters’s reflection on the discovery of a slave graveyard and her haunting and ambivalent reaction to it may be the finest piece of the collection. The only essay that disappointed was Kevin Young’s somewhat flippant take on the Rachel Dolezal situation; given the context of this book with its otherwise exceptional writing, I had hoped for something with greater insight into one of the more bizarre race-related stories of the past few years.Although I consider myself a pretty well-read person, I had not heard of many of these contributors nor have I read much of their works. I am making my way through Baldwin, who must be the finest essayist on any topic in the second half of the twentieth century. Given what I have seen here, I think Ms. Ward has identified some of the finest writers in our new century.I can see this book almost immediately becoming required reading on race studies, but it deserves the widest possible readership. And, when you buy it, pick up “The Fire Next Time” as well. Ms. Ward would want you to.

Amazing essays!

“Replace ropes with bullets. Hound dogs with German shepherds. A gray uniform with a bulletproof vest. Nothing is new.”This book is dedicated, “ To Trayvon Martin and the many other black men, women, and children who have died and been denied justice for these last four hundred years.”Bam.The title of this collection is a slight twist on James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time”, which in itself comes from an old slave song, “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!” The writings within are powerful and maddening. The piece about fathers had me in tears…This book was published in 2016, the year Trump took office. Before the current racial unrest. Before George and Brianna. Yet, read this, “There was a lynching every four days in the early decades of the twentieth century. It’s been estimated that an African American is now killed by police every two to three days.” I wonder what the rate is now…This volume is a tough read, but important. Tough because it’s true. Important because it’s true.James Baldwin wrote, “Know whence you came. If you know whence you came, there is no limit to where you can go.” I hope someday, that is true for everyone living everywhere. I think that reading a book like this is a good start to fulfill that hope.

The selections in Jesmyn Ward’s book of essays are unexpected in their depth and breadth.All reach deeply into the reader’s heart (often with a knife) but those that made the most lasting impressions are:Cadogan’s “Black and Blue” which is as succinct as one can get about the African-American’s inability to perform the simple act of walking without removing a warm comfortable hoodie, taking one’s hands out of one’s pockets, keeping a proscribed pace. I look forward to Cadogan’s upcoming book on walking.”Cracking the Code” by Jesmyn WardHonore Fannone Jeffers’ analytical take on prior research done on Phyllis Wheatley and her husband.Wendy Walters’ “Lonely in America” on the effects of being black in America. Makes you wonder what the mental health issues are doing to the physical well being of African Americans. There’s an important study waiting to be conducted.Along the same lines is Claudia Rankine’s essay which surely speaks to the mental health of black Americans. How can one being in a constant state of high alert, mourning and desperation and not be suffering mentally, emotionally and physically???Loved Emily Raboteau’s “Know your Rights.” The art work blew me away, especially liked the young girl who led Raboteau to one of the hidden murals.Composite Pops by Mitchell Jackson is a call to the importance of fatherhood, no matter what surrogate.And of course Danticat’s unique perspective as Haitian-American with a question: Could Blacks apply for refugee status?Having read Wilkerson’s and Danticat’s books, it was interesting to read their essays and hear a different voice.A must read for all Americans. But if only African-Americans read this book, it is just more preaching to the choir. Caucasians can never know what it is like to be black but must still hear black voices…it is their duty.

For school

A beautifully composed series of essays and poems about the black experience in America. I enjoyed the way the writers tied their individual narratives of the contemporary faces of racism to Americas difficult past.

I completely agree with the reviewer who recommends reading this after BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME. The essays here present a fresh look at the black experience in 21st century America. I suspect that many people, like me, will pick up this book because of its reference to James Baldwin, and may be dismayed at Ward’s introduction, which implies that the essays are “merely” reactions to the recent spate of shootings. In fact, the pieces in this book reach far and wide, right back to 18th century New England and up to contemporary songs.What I loved about the volume is finding new voices to explore. How have I missed THE GREY ALBUM? Where was I when LONG DIVISION was selected as a best book of 2013 by half a dozen major journals? As I read the articles by these authors and others, I was plunged into a new world of exciting writing. This is a collection we need, and Baldwin would be delighted.

This book is a must read for anyone who wants insight into the status of race relations in the US today. It was designed as a response to James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, which was published in 1962 and is still as relevant today as it was then. While there have been some improvements, there haven’t been nearly enough. One of the aspects of the book that I enjoyed was the use of stories and how these demonstrated the strong hold that the past has on our present. Simply because it’s behind us doesn’t mean that its gone.Some of the essays in this volume reflect upon the past, while others discuss current events, and a few look to the future. All of the pieces are well-written narratives on the different ways that racism has impacted our culture. Too often we view prejudice as something that happens in other corners of our country, but like the experience that Wendy Walter’s described in her essay on looking for one of the oldest negro burial sites in America: we discover that it’s right beneath us and we’ve been driving over it without noticing the whole time.Note: I was given a free ARC of this title from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great collection of essays that explore the diversity of the Black experience in America. As a white reader, it was incredibly helpful and important to engage with many different voices sharing their experience of what it’s like to live as a Black American, as complex and challenging as it can be. No two pieces in this book are alike, and each brings an essential perspective to the conversation. I picked this up for a book club, and I think it’s a great choice for discussion of the state of race in America, particularly as brutality against Black people is at the forefront of public discourse. I don’t normally read book introductions (lazy, I guess?), but I read this one and am glad I did. Jesmyn Ward’s explanation of her work in assembling this collection was a helpful orientation. Ward makes it clear why this book is a necessary addition to the American catalogue.

There are certain books that I think should be required reading, especially around certain topics-race for example. The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward is one of those books to read right now!This is a collection of essays all told from the black perspective in America. The essays range in topics from poetry to questions about identity through a DNA test to James Baldwin to the white response to black protests. The essays are broken out into Past, Present, and Future, but many contain the past woven throughout the essay. As Ward points out- it is too difficult to remove slavery and/or civil rights from the equation. Each essay is a unique voice around the same topic- race, especially those who are black in America.Like any collection of essays, there will be some that hit and some that miss or don’t connect. There were several in this collection that I have been talking about to my friends since I read the book such as the one on James Baldwin. I have also found the one on White Rage as an essay that I want to study in a room filled with white men and women to get their take on it. It blew me away.I am not summarizing the essays because many are fairly short and cover only a few pages, but they are still thought provoking. What I have been wondering is whether or not this essay collection will hold up against time? Baldwin’s classic (to which this is a response/continuation) holds up as timeless, while this essay collection has a lot of contemporary topics which I wonder if, in 10 years, people will remember their feelings? This is why I have been pushing my friends to read it now.We are in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, we remember our feelings around Katrina and saw the people being forgotten about because they were black, and we have seen black men shot and left in the street. This essay collection hits those feelings now and this needs to be read now.I gave this one 4.5 stars.

A book like this is especially important right now. Amid the Black Lives Matter movement, the widespread national anthem protests and the recent election of a racist president, The Fire This Time digs deep into the legacy of racism in America and what it means to be black in the past, in the present and in the future.Curated by National Book Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward and dedicated to Trayvon Martin, it’s an anthology divided into three parts: Legacy, Reckoning and Jubilee.Each writer is tasked with examining what Ward calls “the ugly truths that plague us in this country.” The essays and poems contained within are deeply personal in nature, filled with sadness and hope.White people in America (myself included, of course) can never truly understand what it’s like to endure unfathomable injustices based on the color of our skin. I believe that we have a responsibility to listen to black voices and become more empathetic and aware. The Fire This Time joins Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me as as an important work of non-fiction that can help us with that. Like Coates’ book, this one wasn’t written for us (white people), but we can all become better people by reading it.

Just received and have read a few pages and I love it so far

Jesmyn Ward is one of my favorite authors by far. does not disappoint.

really makes one think. no matter what color their skin or which way their politics lean.

Excellent Book

A thought-provoking and illuminating series of meditations on being Black in the US. I found Carol Anderson’s essay particularly instructive.

Powerful writing. Who can resist a book with a poem from Jericho Brown right up front?

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 life experiences of people I think I know but with whom I can never fully identify. Yet the issues and perspectives raised here are universal, expressed with a righteous pride. What’s more, it’s a pleasure to spend a time in the company of such great minds and talents.

Short essays on race relations; great!

Things are similar to the matters written of in this book in a number of respects in Australia – towards people of difference – Indigenous – asylum-seekers. The tragedy is in both lands – police brutality and lack of accountability – protected by their largely Anglo-political fear-mongerers. And the fears of mothers and fathers when their daughters – and sons (especially) leave the house – to go to school or to play or to walk to the local store! Even for folk to be in their local church at Bible study – racist attacks are at every point.In NYC in Harlem in late 2014 – having read Charles M Blow (opinion writer for the NY Times) – and his memoir: Fire Shut Up In My Bones – watching police pull over a car and have its occupants – two young men (Black) up against the car being frisked. I stood watching the scene as my wife and friends moved on – wondering if I should photograph the confrontation – aware that I was observing a profiling incident. During the same visit to NYC – staying in Bed-Stuy – taking a cross city bus to Bushwick to visit the sister and husband of a kinship connection in England. The sister was from Trinidad, her husband from Guyana. A daughter and a son – and her brother (met in England at a family wedding) and family – all in Florida – Fort Myers region. That same day – a shooting just a few blocks from their street -someone was killed – reports said it was drugs-related – maybe, maybe not. I recommend this book – most highly – and I thank everyone who has contributed to it. For helping Anglo-Australian me to understand just that much more…Long May You All Live – and yes, indeed #BlackLivesMatter!

This is a really good read, the author has compiled excerpts from other authors referencing the unique African American experiences. I love how she played off James Baldwin’s, “The Fire Next Time.” Brilliant!

The variety of voices and writing styles amid common the.es really made this book stand out. Marlin contributors to read more of their works.

Jesmyn Ward has collected some remarkable essays in this book.

Just loved this book. The essays were stunning and the writing was exquisite in each and every one.. I cannot recommend it enough, especially to those (like me) who take privilege for granted.

Don’t read this book if you disagree with Black Lives Matter.I loved every entry; and I am probably old enough to have witnessed every event chronicled in these pages from seeing Emmitt Till’s photo in Jet Magazine in 1954 to today’s unending stream of cell phone videos of Black people being murdered .What I found most refreshing, was that the rage was tempered with resolve to make a differences. That the spirit of triumph replaces the historical song of despair. These young folk give me hope for a future full of possibility.

first of all, this isn’t a ‘verified purchase’ as i’m committed to shopping more from local, independent bookstores, less from multibillion dollar corporations that don’t pay taxes.ok. so. this anthology = a collection of wow essays and wow poems that i can’t stop thinking about. i am in awe of kima jones’s storytelling power (“georgie n’ ’em got grandaddy laid out in the front room like a piece of furniture and ushers fanning the top of grandmama’s head”), jesmyn ward’s brutal honesty post trayvon martin (“replace ropes with bullets. hound dogs with german shepherds. a gray uniform with a bulletproof vest. nothing is new.”), and i bow at the altar of rachel kaadzi ghansah. she writes:”if i knew anything about being black in america it was that nothing was guaranteed, you couldn’t count on a thing, and all that was certain for most of us was a black death…a slow death, the accumulation of insults, injuries, neglect, second-rate health care, high blood pressure and stress…and in the end, the inevitable, the erasing of memory. i wanted to write against this, and so was writing a history of the people who i did not want to forget. for many years, i taught during the day and wrote at night – long pieces, 6,000 words for which i was paid $200. i loved it; nothing else mattered because i was remembering. i was staving off death.”and the great kiese laymon, on his time at oberlin:”by then, i already knew i was going to be a writer. i had no idea if i would eat off what i wrote, but i knew i had to write to be a decent human being. i used ink & the page to probe & to remember through essays & sometimes through satire. i was imitating, & maybe interrogating, but i’m not sure i had any idea of how to use words to imagine & really innovate. all my english teachers talked about the importance of finding ‘your voice.’ it always confused me b/c i knew we all had so many voices, so many audiences, & my teachers seemed only to really want the kind of voice that sat w/ its legs crossed, reading the new york times.”there is great strength and honesty and lyrical might to this volume, and i feel richer for having read it. five zillion stars…my heart, full of thanks. highly recommended.

great

I was born white and am trying to understand what it must be like not to be my color. I do not feel superior. I feel we all are equal. This book helps give me some insight. I feel pain and frustration throughout all the book… and hope. The book is honest, pulls no punches as each author speaks what’s in their heart. I feel like I have just walked through a black world.

“𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴”In an effort to read more works by black authors, I picked up a collection of texts compiled and edited by Jesmyn Ward called The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race. Ward based the concept for the book on a 1963 collection by James Baldwin, where Baldwin gathered some of the great black writers/thinkers of his day to comment on race in America. The Fire This Time follows a similar format, providing a diverse and engaging group of traditional essays, photo essays, memoirs, and poems that are, unfortunately, just as relevant now as Baldwin’s book was in the 60s. I wonder, if you combined the two books and removed the dates, if people could even tell which essay was written when. It’s sad, damning, and powerfulA couple of things stand out to me here. First, there is so much work still to be done for racial justice, and our black neighbors need us (here I’m speaking to anyone not black) to fight with them as allies. Second, each of these eighteen authors are very different people with different personalities, but the collective pain and yearning they share exudes from the pages. There are many overarching themes and ideas, tethered and connected by individual experience and opinion. This was not planned in any way, and it speaks to the shared trauma, resilience, and desires of the black community at large. This book may have been compiled back in 2016, but it is just as timely and important in 2020, and does a great job of placing current issues in a historical context. I highly recommend this book to all!

Amazing book. Can’t wait to teach selections from this text to my students.

A must read as we look at continued racial inequalities, injustices, wrongful incarcerations, prejudices, and police violence against people of color in America.

Excellent collection of thoughtful and powerful essays