"The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin are two essays that together capture the brilliance and insight of their author. Together they show the complexity of issues of race in the United States in a way few others have matched. Baldwin was an interesting author in American literature and during the civil rights struggle, he neither fell into the traditional camps (Martin Luther King versus Malcolm X). His nuanced analysis combined is combined with deep aesthetic sensibilities. These are two essays worth returning to multiple times and reading slowly. Out of them, I found the first one "My Dungeon Shook" to be slightly stronger if more because of its short, heartfelt directness.