Baldwin galvanized the nation in the early days of the civil rights movement with his eloquent manifesto. The Fire Next Timestands as one of the essential works of our literature. James Baldwin (1924–1987) was educated in New York. He is the author of more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, including Go Tell It on the Mountain, Notes of a Native Son, Another Country, and Blues for Mister Charlie. He has received many awards including the Eugene F. Saxon Memorial Trust Award, a Rosenwald Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Partisan Review Fellowship, and a Ford Foundation grant. He was made a Commander of the Legion of Honor in 1986. Jesse L. Martin is an accomplished actor and singer of the stage and screen. He has spent nine seasons as Detective Edward Green on the perennial hit Law & Order. In the theater, Martin originated the role of Thomas B. "Tom" Collins in Jonathan Larson's award-winning musical Rent. He recently reprised his role in the film adaptation. An alumnus of NYU and a classically trained stage actor, Martin currently resides in Manhattan. "One of the few genuinely indispensable American writers." —Saturday Review "Searing...brilliant...masterful." —The New York Times

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Excerpted from The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
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