The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America

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, and how the debate and the decades-long clash between the men illuminates the racial divide that continues to haunt America today.

Book Club Discussion Questions

Awards and Recognition

• Winner of the Frances Fuller Victor Award for General Nonfiction, Oregon Book Awards
• Shortlisted for the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award, Phi Beta Kappa Society
• Shortlisted for the MAAH Stone Book Award, Museum of African American History
• One of Whoopi Goldberg's Favorite Things, ABC The View
• New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
• Chicago Tribune writer John Warner's Book That Will Help You Better Understand the Messed-Up Nature of the World
• One of The Undefeated's 25 Can't Miss Books of 2019
• One of The Progressive's Favorite Books of 2019
• One of LitHub's 50 Favorite Books of the Year
• One of Inside Higher Ed's Books to Give the Educator in Your Life for the Holidays