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Shop nowThe Fire Is upon Us
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Learn more"A great read."—Whoopi Goldberg, The View
Prentice Onayemi narrates the story of how the clash between the civil rights firebrand and the father of modern conservatism continues to illuminate America's racial divide
This audiobook includes as a bonus feature the original audio recording of the Cambridge Union debate
On February 18, 1965, an overflowing crowd packed the Cambridge Union in Cambridge, England, to witness a historic televised debate between James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., a fierce critic of the movement and America's most influential conservative intellectual. The topic was "the American dream is at the expense of the American Negro," and no one who has seen the debate can soon forget it. Nicholas Buccola's The Fire Is upon Us is the first book to tell the full story of the event, the radically different paths that led Baldwin and Buckley to it, the controversies that followed, and how the debate and the decades-long clash between the men continues to illuminate America's racial divide today.
Born in New York City only fifteen months apart, the Harlem-raised Baldwin and the privileged Buckley could not have been more different, but they both rose to the height of American intellectual life during the civil rights movement. By the time they met in Cambridge, Buckley was determined to sound the alarm about a man he considered an "eloquent menace." For his part, Baldwin viewed Buckley as a deluded reactionary whose popularity revealed the sickness of the American soul. The stage was set for an epic confrontation that pitted Baldwin's call for a moral revolution in race relations against Buckley's unabashed elitism and implicit commitment to white supremacy.
A remarkable story of race and the American dream, The Fire Is upon Us reveals the deep roots and lasting legacy of a conflict that continues to haunt our politics.
Nicholas Buccola is the author of The Political Thought of Frederick Douglass and the editor of The Essential Douglass and Abraham Lincoln and Liberal Democracy. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Salon, and many other publications. He is the Elizabeth and Morris Glicksman Chair in Political Science at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, and lives in Portland.
Prentice Onayemi is a Chicago-native and found his way to Portland, OR via NYC. He has narrated hundreds of audiobooks and is proud to be an inaugural inductee of Audible’s Narrator Hall of Fame. Prentice appeared in theatrical works in NYC ranging from downtown passion projects to Broadway mainstays, and he co-founded Grains of Salt—a company working at the intersection of the arts and community development. He holds a BFA from NYU, an MBA from Columbia University, and is working on a doctorate in acupuncture and Chinese medicine at OCOM.
Reviews
"One of Whoopi Goldberg's Favorite Things, ABC The View" "A great read."---Whoopi Goldberg, The View "Chicago Tribune writer John Warner's Book That Will Help You Better Understand the Messed-Up Nature of the World" "New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice" "A gripping snapshot of a country riven by injustice yet anxious about radical change." "The great achievement of Buccola’s The Fire Is upon Us is to make one such moment—in which this promise was fought over—come to life."---Gregor Baszak, Public Books "A study of two acclaimed American thinkers on opposite sides of the political spectrum that underscores the enormous race and class divisions in 1960s America, many of which still exist today. . . . An elucidating work that makes effective use of comparison and contrast." "You can watch James Baldwin’s historic 1965 debate at the Cambridge Union with William F. Buckley Jr. on YouTube. … Buccola’s book reveals the story behind it. The two men were born just 15 months apart, yet grew up in separate Americas. Buccola provides an exegesis of the lives of both men, and an evaluation of a century-defining debate. The fault lines between Buckley and Baldwin are just as relevant as ever."---Soraya Nadia McDonald, The Undefeated "The Fire Is Upon Us is written for readers on both the left and the right, its prose wonderfully accessible . . . [and it]
holds a mirror up to the strident political and racial divisions of the U.S. in 2019. The language may be a little different today from what Baldwin and Buckley used, but the sharp terms of the debate over whether people of color in the United States get to have the American dream remains the same then as now.