The Impact of Fire Next Time The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin is a powerful book. It fueled the fire of the civil rights movement and represents a staple of African-American literature. It is a testament to black culture and the problems that came to a head during the mid-20th century. One walks away from the book feeling three things. The first is a heightened sense of awareness about growing up in Harlem. The second is a new perspective from which to interpret the struggle for civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s. The third is respect for Baldwin as a writer and critical thinker. Baldwin grew up in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s. He calls on many of his experiences growing up as a backdrop for the contemporary ideas he addresses in The Fire Next Time. Baldwin writes: The wages of sin were visible everywhere, in every wine-stained and urine-spattered hallway, in every ambulance bell that rang, in every scar on the faces of pimps and their prostitutes, in every defenseless infant brought to the hospital. this danger, in every knife and gun fight on the Aven...