Spent Baldwin& #39;s birthday yesterday thinking about how easy it is to take for granted how ubiquitous he& #39;s become in our discourse today. It wasn& #39;t always this way. There was a period not long ago, when few Baldwin books were being taught in schools, when many didn& #39;t know his name.

My hope for Baldwin, and for us, is that people will read him beyond THE FIRE NEXT TIME. As important as that text is, it is only a small part of Baldwin& #39;s canon. There is so much more of him to read from before that 1963 book, and certainly much more of him to read after it.