In Coming through the Fire, prominent scholar and writer C. Eric Lincoln addresses the most important issue of our time with insights forged by a lifetime of confronting racial oppression in America. Born in a small rural town in northern Alabama, raised by his grandparents, Lincoln portrays in rich detail the nuances of racial conflict and control that characterized the community of Athens, personal experiences that would lead him to dedicate his life to illuminating issues of race and social identity.

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Coming through the Fire, with its fiercely intelligent, passionate, and clear-eyed view of race and class conflict, makes a major contribution to understanding - and thereby healing - the terrible rift that has opened up in the heart of America.

Lincoln explores the nature of biracial relationships, the issue of transracial adoption, violence - particularly black-on-black violence - the "endangered" black male, racism as power, the relationship between blacks and Jews, our multicultural melting pot, and Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Without sidestepping painful issues, or sacrificing a righteous anger, the author argues for "no-fault reconciliation," for mutual recognition of the human endowment we share regardless of race, preparing us as a nation for the true multiculture tomorrow will demand.