On the centennial of his birth, James Baldwin remains relevant today

On the centennial of his birth, James Baldwin remains relevant today toggle caption Evening Standard/Getty Images/Hulton Archive James Baldwin would have celebrated his 100th birthday Friday — on Aug. 2. The opening essay to The Fire Next Time is Baldwin’s letter to his 14-year-old nephew describing the faulty institutions that make up his life — his family, his faith, and his country. And the second essay opens Sponsor Message For each book, we’ve enlisted the help of an expert to talk about what they find interesting about Baldwin’s writing style, and what legacy each work leaves. “I often think of it as a revisitation of his childhood with a narrative perspective that knows and understands all of the things a young Baldwin wishes he had known and understood when he was 14.” The novel follows a boy named John undergoing that same crisis of faith Baldwin described in The Fire Next Time.