Baldwin's lengthy personal essay on race in America was written on the 100th anniversary of the emancipation proclamation, in the midst of the unsettled struggle of the Civil Right Movement, and before the assassination of President Kennedy which indicated a dark turning point in American history.

The biographical sections are fantastic: quick ink sketches of life in Harlem and a meeting with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. The central theme is racism, the way that legal and social shackles weigh down Baldwin and his compatriots. Yet Baldwin is more sophisticated, more psychological. Racism is about the power of domination, it's a tie that binds slave and master, and diminishes them both. The Black Separatism of the Nation of Islam, based on a theology that white people are devils (specifically bred by Evil Scientist Yakub), is an inversion of American racism that offers a balm of power, but no solutions.

Baldwin has no easy solutions. Universal dignity, universal love, universal brotherhood are all hard. Power is seductive, and always will product an out-group. A Black man became President in 2008. A Black woman has a decent chance at the oval office in 2024. But the American dream is still very provisional for African-Americans, and injustice everywhere.

If this is not yet the fire, I shudder to think what next time will be.