**NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The book that galvanized the nation, gave voice to the emerging civil rights movementin the 1960s—and still lights the way to understanding race in America today. • The finest essay I’ve ever read.” —Ta-Nehisi Coates ** At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document from the iconic author of *If Beale Street Could Talk* and *Go Tell It on the Mountain.* It consists of two letters, written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism. Described by *The New York Times Book Review* as sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle … all presented in searing, brilliant prose, *The Fire Next Time* stands as a classic of literature.