Maya Angelou

<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>It's been a long time coming, but <em>A Song Flung Up to Heaven</em> triumphantly completes the six volumes of autobiography that began nearly 30 years ago with Maya Angelou's astonishingly successful __, a work that changed readers' perceptions of what autobiographical writing could achieve. The impact of <em>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</em> (which evoked the author's adolescence and sexual abuse in Arkansas) was unprecedented. It combined frankness and emotional force with a nuanced, poetic style--a style that Angelou has perhaps found more elusive recently. But it's here again, as affecting as ever. The book deals with the years 1964-68, a turbulent period in which Angelou came back to America after her African sojourn. This, of course, was the time of the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King; Angelou was on the point of working with the latter in the civil rights movement. Her voice is fresh and exhilarating as she deals with the tragedies and triumphs of a packed life, and there are some set-piece moments, such as her account of the misguided revenge she took on an ex-lover. </p><p>Many women have become celebrated as writers and poets, but Angelou has also enjoyed a distinguished career as a civil rights activist, producer, performer, actress, and filmmaker. With all of this under her belt, she can be forgiven for the note of self-congratulation that creeps in at times. But for those who've followed her unique writing, this is a journey into a fascinating life and a riveting picture of a divided America, always informed with that clear-sighted vision Angelou is famous for. <em>--Barry Forshaw, Amazon.co.uk</em></p><h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Adult/High School-Far from a textbook account, this final volume in the writer's series of six memoirs takes readers into the heart of the civil rights movement. Angelou begins in 1964. When she replanted her feet in America to help Malcolm X, she admittedly left a piece of her heart in Ghana with her son. She was also developing artistically during this time, and finding the means by which to express herself to her country and in her community. Any YA who has aimed to accomplish something meaningful and met with personal loss or the disappointment of bad timing, will identify with her. Before she was able to help Malcolm X form the Organization of African-American Unity, he was assassinated. Her mother and protective brother buttressed her spirits, and encouraged her to move forward. From San Francisco to Hawaii and back to California she takes readers into an economically depressed area in Los Angeles before, during, and after it burned. Her next giant step will be appreciated by YAs with an artistic side. She describes performing and writing plays for an African-American theater. Later, after she moved to New York, her pal James Baldwin and others instrumental in changing the view of America in the 1960s are featured prominently. History was in the making and Angelou was in the midst of it as this worthwhile autobiography attests.<br /><em>Karen Sokol, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA </em><br />Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>

See the difference, read Maya Angelou in Large Print* About Large PrintAll Random House Large Print editions are published in a 16-point typefaceThis wise book is the wonderful continuation of the bestselling Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now. Even the Stars Look Lonesome is Maya Angelou talking of the things she cares about most. In her unique, spellbinding way, she re-creates intimate personal experiences and gives us her wisdom on a wide variety of subjects. She tells us how a house can both hurt its occupants and heal them. She talks about Africa. She gives us a profile of Oprah. She enlightens us about age and sexuality. She confesses to the problems fame brings and shares with us the indelible lessons she has learned about rage and violence. And she sings the praises of sensuality. Even the Stars Look Lonesome imparts the lessons of a lifetime.

### Review "A heroic and beautiful book." -- *Cleveland Plain Dealer*. "This is the story of a great heroine who knows the meaning of a struggle and never loses her pride or dignity. Indeed, her story makes me proud of the human race." -- John Oliver Killens *From the Paperback edition.* ### Product Description In this incredible second book in a series of autobiographies, the poet, still in her teens, gives birth to a son, tries to keep a job, falls in love, dances, falls out of love, chases after her kidnapped baby, and goes to work in a house of prostitution thinking she is helping the man she loves. *From the Hardcover edition.*

<h3>From</h3><p>Now in her 80s, writer Angelou, a food lover who has struggled with weight and health concerns, learned the value of portion control. In this cookbook, she recommends eating great food (no calorie counting) in small portions all day long. Her recipes come from childhood and from her travels and include reworked concoctions influenced and inspired by other cookbooks she loves. Angelou breaks the rules of what to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with recipes for meals to eat any time of the day. The emphasis is on food so flavorful that whenever it is eaten, it is savored and so satisfying that small portions are enough. Among the recipes for creamy pork hash, chicken tetrazzini, Swedish hash, and oxtail stew are recollections from her life and commentary on acquired tastes and eating beyond physical fullness. In addition to the meat dishes are sections for vegetarians and recipes for soups and desserts. Gorgeous illustrations and extended commentary add to the appeal of this book. --Vanessa Bush </p><h3>Review</h3><p>_<strong>Praise for Maya Angelou’s <em>Hallelujah! The Welcome Table</em></strong>_ </p><p>“A tour-de-force collaboration of two of Angelou’s major passions—writing and cooking . . . She also shares the poignant, pithy and sometimes hilarious memories that accompany each dish.”<br /><em>—Ebony</em> </p><p>“Poet and literary legend Maya Angelou is as mighty with her spoon and spatula as she is with her world-renowned pen.”<br />_—Chicago Sun-Times<br />_ <br />“Serious comfort food . . . The poet’s life [is] laid out like a colorful banquet. . . . Meals serve as metaphors for life experience.”<br /><em>—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</em> </p><p>“The life of the poet-autobiographer . . . comes even more alive through plumes of aromas, a palette of flavors and a recipe box of memories.”<br />_—Seattle Post-Intelligencer<br />_<br />“Each recipe is thoughtfully conceived and made even more enticing by the personal history attached to it. . . . The result is as divine as the woman herself, full of flavor, passion and hard work.”<br /><em>—Oakland Tribune</em> </p><p>“[Readers] will find not only a wealth of dishes . . . but a close-up, personal glimpse of a compelling writer and her family.”<br /><em>—New York Daily News</em> </p><p>“Written in the exuberant tone of an impromptu dinner gathering.”<br />_—Newsweek<br />_ </p>

<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Readers familiar with Angelou's <em>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</em> will find what may be the secret ingredient of her success in this collection of tear- and laughter-provoking vignettes with 73 savory recipes. Here's Angelou's grandmother's Chicken and Dumplings, Crackling Corn Bread and Caramel Cake. Big brother Bailey makes a mean batch of Smothered Pork Chops and knows how to stretch them for a week's worth of meals. Mother, who "cooked wonderful meals and was very poignant about how to present them," can make a Roasted Capon play second fiddle to Red Rice. As the wider world beckons, Angelou dines. Sometimes she's the worker; having passed herself off as an experienced Creole cook, she becomes one with her Braised Short Ribs. Other times, she's the hostess serving what M.F.K. Fisher pronounces "the first honest cassoulet I have eaten in years." A batch of spoon bread nets Angelou a job and compliment: "If you can write half as good as you can cook, you are going to be famous." She does, and the food world widens (tamales, paté, minestrone, chachouka), and the fellow diners often have famous names (Oprah, Jessica Mitford, Rosa Guy). The food remains delectable and comfortable, and Angelou's directions are minimal but clear enough for experienced cooks. Color photos not seen by <em>PW</em>. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Angelou has feasted at both ends of the food spectrum and everywhere in between. Her appreciation of good food has given her stamina and has enriched the texture of her days. In this memoir of significant meals, the poet recalls her grandmother's ironic discovery that rich folks relished wilted lettuce while she was investing in ice to keep her greens crisp. In another recollection, Angelou recalls her brother Bailey's advice on how to stretch a pork chop or two into enough different meals to please even her ravenous young son. As Angelou's renown swells, so does her purse, and before long she's sitting down to tables where nothing is impossible. Humble beef stew becomes beef Wellington and lemon meringue pie elegant eclairs. But Angelou's savoring of well-made food is a single continuum. Her recipes for favorite dishes derive from traditions as diverse as the origins of menudo, minestrone, spoon bread, tomato souffle, and hog head cheese. Angelou's fans curious about their hero's appetites will find tasty satisfaction here. <em>Mark Knoblauch</em><br /><em>Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved</em></p>

<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>In this first of five volumes of autobiography, poet Maya Angelou recounts a youth filled with disappointment, frustration, tragedy, and finally hard-won independence. Sent at a young age to live with her grandmother in Arkansas, Angelou learned a great deal from this exceptional woman and the tightly knit black community there. These very lessons carried her throughout the hardships she endured later in life, including a tragic occurrence while visiting her mother in St. Louis and her formative years spent in California--where an unwanted pregnancy changed her life forever. Marvelously told, with Angelou's "gift for language and observation," this "remarkable autobiography by an equally remarkable black woman from Arkansas captures, indelibly, a world of which most Americans are shamefully ignorant." </p><h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Grade 10 Up. Two slender volumes that present critical information about popular classic titles. Bloom's introduction is followed by a short biographical sketch of each author and then a detailed thematic and structural analysis that summarizes the novel in question, chapter by chapter. Excerpts from critical essays constitute the major portion of each book. Some of the essays on The Sun center around character analysis, especially of the main female character, Brett Ashley. Other entries include comparisons to other works of literature including F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and discussions of the symbolism, morality, and the work's historical context. Hemingway's own interpretation of the book and a letter from Fitzgerald to Hemingway about its flaws are excerpted. In the second book, the writings explore Angelou's use of language, her narrative technique, unique qualities of Caged Bird, comparisons with other works, and opposition to it. Motherhood, racial pride and self-hatred, rape, and honesty are among the issues explored. While similar material may be found in many other places, these series titles will be useful resources.?Lois McCulley, Wichita Falls High School, TX<br />Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>

<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>From the mellifluous voice of a venerable American icon comes her first original collection of writing to be published in ten years, anecdotal vignettes drawn from a compelling life and written in Angelou's erudite prose. Beginning with her childhood, Angelou acknowledges her own inauguration into daughterhood in "Philanthropy," recalling the first time her mother called her "my daughter." Angelou becomes a mother herself at an early age, after a meaningless first sexual experience: "Nine months later I had a beautiful baby boy. The birth of my son caused me to develop enough courage to invent my life." Fearlessly sharing amusing, if somewhat embarrassing, moments in "Senegal," the mature Angelou is cosmopolitan but still capable of making a mistake: invited to a dinner party while visiting the African nation, Angelou becomes irritated that none of the guests will step on a lovely carpet laid out in the center of the room, so she takes it upon herself to cross the carpet, only to discover the carpet is a table cloth that had been laid out in honor of her visit. The wisdom in this slight volume feels light and familiar, but it's also earnest and offered with warmth. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>“It’s a book to give to one’s daughter, mother, son or father, but definitely one to be read and savored.”—_Baltimore Sun </p><p><em>“Sound advice, vivid memory and strong opinion . . . What is clear is that [Maya] Angelou is, all these years later, still a charmer, still speaking her mind.”—</em>Washington Post Book World </p><p><em>“A slim volume packed with nourishing nuggets of wisdom . . . Overarching each brief chapter is the vital energy of a woman taking life’s measure with every step.”—</em>Kirkus Reviews<br />_<br />“Written in Angelou’s beautiful, poetic style, the essays feel like warm advice from a beloved aunt or grandmother, whose wisdom you know was earned.”—_Fredericksburg Free Lance_—Star </p><p>“Spellbinding . . . Angelou delivers with her signature passion and fire. . . . Each [essay] delivers a powerful message.”—_Rocky Mountain News </p><p>_ </p><p><em>From the Trade Paperback edition.</em></p>

<h3>Review</h3><p>“The buoyant, gifted Maya Angelou continues her autobiography. . . . Both her joy and her despair have twice as much impact as most people’s.”<br /><strong><em>–New York</em></strong> </p><p>“Angelou may be one of the best hunters of the heart, one of the best to explore the insides of folks, black or white, and find what moves them, what makes them real and tangible to themselves and others.” <br /><em></em>_–The Christian Science Monitor<br />_<em></em><br />“Angelou is a sharp observer and commentator on culture. . . . [Her book is] filled with penetrating observations about the people she encounters.”<br /><strong><em>–Chicago Tribune Book World</em></strong> </p><p>“Honest, funny and heartwarming . . . The strength of the book is Angelou’s lyrical writing . . . a God-given gift.”<br /><strong><em>–The Washington Star</em></strong> </p><p>“Angelou is one of the geniuses of the Afro-American serial autobiography.”<br /><strong><em>–The New York Times</em></strong></p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>In this third self-contained volume of her autobiography, which began with <em>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</em>, Maya Angelou moves into the adult world. Maya struggles to support herself and her son through a series of odd jobs and weathers a failed marriage to a white man before landing a gig singing in one of the most popular nightclubs on the San Francisco coast. From there, she is called to New York to join the cast of <em>Porgy and Bess.</em> Maya soon finds herself on a joyous and dramatic adventure, touring abroad through Italy, France, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Egypt with spirited cast members, and performing for large, enthusiastic audiences. The exciting experience is dampened only by Maya’s nagging guilt that she has abandoned the person she loves most in life, her son, whose reentrance into her world reveals to Maya the healing power of devotion and love. </p><p>Charged with Maya Angelou’s remarkable sense of life and love, <em>Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas</em> is a unique celebration of the human condition–and an enthralling saga that has touched, inspired, and empowered readers worldwide. </p>

<div><h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><strong>Oprah Book Club® Selection, May 1997:</strong> Maya Angelou has had more lives than the proverbial cat, and in <em>The Heart of a Woman</em> she continues the account of her remarkable life begun in <em>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</em>. In the first book of her bestselling autobiographical series, she describes her traumatic childhood in the small, segregated town of Stamps, Arkansas, during the 1930s. <em>Gather Together in My Name</em> picks up the story in the postwar years, when Maya, a single teenager with an infant son becomes, in short order, a cook, a madam, a dancer, and a prostitute. Next comes <em>Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas,</em> an account of her twenties and her unsuccessful first marriage to a white man. <em>The Heart of a Woman,</em> the fourth in the series, takes us through one of the most exciting and formative periods of Angelou's amazing life: her beginnings as a writer and an activist in New York. </p><p>Angelou has a happy knack of attracting the best and the brightest into her orbit, and <em>The Heart of a Woman</em> offers a veritable cornucopia of black luminaries in its pages. Singer Billie Holiday, writers John Ellins and Paule Marshall, jazz musicians Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, and actors Godfrey Cambridge and James Earl Jones--Maya meets and learns from them all. Political activism soon follows as Ms. Angelou first organizes a theatrical benefit for the Reverend Martin Luther King and then becomes the director of the New York Southern Christian Leadership Conference office. Her involvement in the civil rights movement eventually brings her into contact with African freedom fighters Oliver Tambo and the charming Vusumzi Make, whom she marries and follows to Africa. </p><p><em>The Heart of a Woman</em> is as honest, painful, funny, outraged, and outrageous as Angelou herself. From her debut at the Apollo Theatre to her meeting with Malcolm X, Maya Angelou gives us something to cheer about and plenty to ponder as well. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>“Remarkable . . . a great lady moving right on through a great memoir.”<br><strong><em>–Kirkus Reviews</em></strong> </p><p>“Maya Angelou has . . . achieved a kind of literary breakthrough which few writers of any time, place, or race achieve. . . . What makes [her] writing unique is . . . a melding of unconcerned honesty, consummate craft, and perfect descriptive pitch, yielding a rare compound of great emotional force and authenticity.”<br><em></em>_–The Washington Post Book World<br>_<em></em><br>“To say that Angelou is a living legend is in no way an exaggeration. [She is] one of the great voices of contemporary literature.”<br><strong><em>–The Voice</em></strong> </p><p>“Angelou is one of the geniuses of the Afro-American serial autobiography.”<br><strong><em>–The New York Times</em></strong> </p><p>“A uniquely gifted wordsmith and storyteller.”<br><strong><em>–The San Diego Union-Tribune</em></strong></p> </div> <h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><strong>Oprah Book Club® Selection, May 1997:</strong> Maya Angelou has had more lives than the proverbial cat, and in <em>The Heart of a Woman</em> she continues the account of her remarkable life begun in <em>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</em>. In the first book of her bestselling autobiographical series, she describes her traumatic childhood in the small, segregated town of Stamps, Arkansas, during the 1930s. <em>Gather Together in My Name</em> picks up the story in the postwar years, when Maya, a single teenager with an infant son becomes, in short order, a cook, a madam, a dancer, and a prostitute. Next comes <em>Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas,</em> an account of her twenties and her unsuccessful first marriage to a white man. <em>The Heart of a Woman,</em> the fourth in the series, takes us through one of the most exciting and formative periods of Angelou's amazing life: her beginnings as a writer and an activist in New York. </p><p>Angelou has a happy knack of attracting the best and the brightest into her orbit, and <em>The Heart of a Woman</em> offers a veritable cornucopia of black luminaries in its pages. Singer Billie Holiday, writers John Ellins and Paule Marshall, jazz musicians Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, and actors Godfrey Cambridge and James Earl Jones--Maya meets and learns from them all. Political activism soon follows as Ms. Angelou first organizes a theatrical benefit for the Reverend Martin Luther King and then becomes the director of the New York Southern Christian Leadership Conference office. Her involvement in the civil rights movement eventually brings her into contact with African freedom fighters Oliver Tambo and the charming Vusumzi Make, whom she marries and follows to Africa. </p><p><em>The Heart of a Woman</em> is as honest, painful, funny, outraged, and outrageous as Angelou herself. From her debut at the Apollo Theatre to her meeting with Malcolm X, Maya Angelou gives us something to cheer about and plenty to ponder as well. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>“Remarkable . . . a great lady moving right on through a great memoir.”<br /><strong><em>–Kirkus Reviews</em></strong> </p><p>“Maya Angelou has . . . achieved a kind of literary breakthrough which few writers of any time, place, or race achieve. . . . What makes [her] writing unique is . . . a melding of unconcerned honesty, consummate craft, and perfect descriptive pitch, yielding a rare compound of great emotional force and authenticity.”<br /><em></em>_–The Washington Post Book World<br />_<em></em><br />“To say that Angelou is a living legend is in no way an exaggeration. [She is] one of the great voices of contemporary literature.”<br /><strong><em>–The Voice</em></strong> </p><p>“Angelou is one of the geniuses of the Afro-American serial autobiography.”<br /><strong><em>–The New York Times</em></strong> </p><p>“A uniquely gifted wordsmith and storyteller.”<br /><strong><em>–The San Diego Union-Tribune</em></strong></p> <h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>Millions have read Maya Angelou's national bestseller <em>The Heart of a Woman</em>, and now you can hear her fascinating story in the author's own voice. Angelou exposes a turbulent period of her life as she struggles to raise a child, fulfill her goals as a writer, and fight for civil rights in an age of social injustice; Angelou's rich and resonating voice draws the listener into the unexpected details of her life. Working as a nightclub singer in Los Angeles, Angelou decides to move to New York with her son Guy in hopes of building stronger ties with the black art community. In an attempt to find stability for Guy and make a name for herself, her love life takes wild turns. Should she marry the bail bondsman who's as dry as stale bread or run away with the African freedom fighter? Her heart takes her to Africa, where her writing career blossoms but her marriage sours. <em>The Heart of a Woman</em> is filled with beautiful prose and songs; Angelou displays her music talent in several vignettes, most memorably in a scene with Billie Holiday: Angelou is performing at a nightclub when Holiday shrieks, "Stop her, stop her... she sounds like my mama!" </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"I know that not since the days of my childhood, when people in books were more real than the people one saw every day, have I found myself SO moved."<br /></p><p>-- James Baldwin<br /></p><p>"Full of laughter and tears, love and hate, failures and triumphs, and above all, understanding."<br /></p><p>-- John O. Killens<br /></p><p>"Gather Together in My Name<br /></p><p>"Gather Together in My Name is part of a select body of literature that includes The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Claude Brown's Manchild in the Promised land, and Ernest J. Gaines's The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Maya Angelou regards the world and herself with intelligence and wit; she records the events of her life with style and grace."<br /></p><p>-- William McPherson, The Washington Post Book World<br /></p><p>"Here the 'caged bird' soars, and sings in a voice as rich and funny, passionate and mellow as any writer I know."<br /></p><p>-- Shana Alexander<br /></p><p><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em></p> <h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>Millions have read Maya Angelou's national bestseller <em>The Heart of a Woman</em>, and now you can hear her fascinating story in the author's own voice. Angelou exposes a turbulent period of her life as she struggles to raise a child, fulfill her goals as a writer, and fight for civil rights in an age of social injustice; Angelou's rich and resonating voice draws the listener into the unexpected details of her life. Working as a nightclub singer in Los Angeles, Angelou decides to move to New York with her son Guy in hopes of building stronger ties with the black art community. In an attempt to find stability for Guy and make a name for herself, her love life takes wild turns. Should she marry the bail bondsman who's as dry as stale bread or run away with the African freedom fighter? Her heart takes her to Africa, where her writing career blossoms but her marriage sours. <em>The Heart of a Woman</em> is filled with beautiful prose and songs; Angelou displays her music talent in several vignettes, most memorably in a scene with Billie Holiday: Angelou is performing at a nightclub when Holiday shrieks, "Stop her, stop her... she sounds like my mama!" </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"I know that not since the days of my childhood, when people in books were more real than the people one saw every day, have I found myself SO moved."<br /></p><p>-- James Baldwin<br /></p><p>"Full of laughter and tears, love and hate, failures and triumphs, and above all, understanding."<br /></p><p>-- John O. Killens<br /></p><p>"Gather Together in My Name<br /></p><p>"Gather Together in My Name is part of a select body of literature that includes The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Claude Brown's Manchild in the Promised land, and Ernest J. Gaines's The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Maya Angelou regards the world and herself with intelligence and wit; she records the events of her life with style and grace."<br /></p><p>-- William McPherson, The Washington Post Book World<br /></p><p>"Here the 'caged bird' soars, and sings in a voice as rich and funny, passionate and mellow as any writer I know."<br /></p><p>-- Shana Alexander<br /></p><p><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em></p> <h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>Millions have read Maya Angelou's national bestseller <em>The Heart of a Woman</em>, and now you can hear her fascinating story in the author's own voice. Angelou exposes a turbulent period of her life as she struggles to raise a child, fulfill her goals as a writer, and fight for civil rights in an age of social injustice; Angelou's rich and resonating voice draws the listener into the unexpected details of her life. Working as a nightclub singer in Los Angeles, Angelou decides to move to New York with her son Guy in hopes of building stronger ties with the black art community. In an attempt to find stability for Guy and make a name for herself, her love life takes wild turns. Should she marry the bail bondsman who's as dry as stale bread or run away with the African freedom fighter? Her heart takes her to Africa, where her writing career blossoms but her marriage sours. <em>The Heart of a Woman</em> is filled with beautiful prose and songs; Angelou displays her music talent in several vignettes, most memorably in a scene with Billie Holiday: Angelou is performing at a nightclub when Holiday shrieks, "Stop her, stop her... she sounds like my mama!" </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"I know that not since the days of my childhood, when people in books were more real than the people one saw every day, have I found myself SO moved."<br /></p><p>-- James Baldwin<br /></p><p>"Full of laughter and tears, love and hate, failures and triumphs, and above all, understanding."<br /></p><p>-- John O. Killens<br /></p><p>"Gather Together in My Name<br /></p><p>"Gather Together in My Name is part of a select body of literature that includes The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Claude Brown's Manchild in the Promised land, and Ernest J. Gaines's The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Maya Angelou regards the world and herself with intelligence and wit; she records the events of her life with style and grace."<br /></p><p>-- William McPherson, The Washington Post Book World<br /></p><p>"Here the 'caged bird' soars, and sings in a voice as rich and funny, passionate and mellow as any writer I know."<br /></p><p>-- Shana Alexander<br /></p><p><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em></p> <h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>Millions have read Maya Angelou's national bestseller <em>The Heart of a Woman</em>, and now you can hear her fascinating story in the author's own voice. Angelou exposes a turbulent period of her life as she struggles to raise a child, fulfill her goals as a writer, and fight for civil rights in an age of social injustice; Angelou's rich and resonating voice draws the listener into the unexpected details of her life. Working as a nightclub singer in Los Angeles, Angelou decides to move to New York with her son Guy in hopes of building stronger ties with the black art community. In an attempt to find stability for Guy and make a name for herself, her love life takes wild turns. Should she marry the bail bondsman who's as dry as stale bread or run away with the African freedom fighter? Her heart takes her to Africa, where her writing career blossoms but her marriage sours. <em>The Heart of a Woman</em> is filled with beautiful prose and songs; Angelou displays her music talent in several vignettes, most memorably in a scene with Billie Holiday: Angelou is performing at a nightclub when Holiday shrieks, "Stop her, stop her... she sounds like my mama!" </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"I know that not since the days of my childhood, when people in books were more real than the people one saw every day, have I found myself SO moved."<br /></p><p>-- James Baldwin<br /></p><p>"Full of laughter and tears, love and hate, failures and triumphs, and above all, understanding."<br /></p><p>-- John O. Killens<br /></p><p>"Gather Together in My Name<br /></p><p>"Gather Together in My Name is part of a select body of literature that includes The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Claude Brown's Manchild in the Promised land, and Ernest J. Gaines's The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Maya Angelou regards the world and herself with intelligence and wit; she records the events of her life with style and grace."<br /></p><p>-- William McPherson, The Washington Post Book World<br /></p><p>"Here the 'caged bird' soars, and sings in a voice as rich and funny, passionate and mellow as any writer I know."<br /></p><p>-- Shana Alexander<br /></p><p><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em></p> <h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>Millions have read Maya Angelou's national bestseller <em>The Heart of a Woman</em>, and now you can hear her fascinating story in the author's own voice. Angelou exposes a turbulent period of her life as she struggles to raise a child, fulfill her goals as a writer, and fight for civil rights in an age of social injustice; Angelou's rich and resonating voice draws the listener into the unexpected details of her life. Working as a nightclub singer in Los Angeles, Angelou decides to move to New York with her son Guy in hopes of building stronger ties with the black art community. In an attempt to find stability for Guy and make a name for herself, her love life takes wild turns. Should she marry the bail bondsman who's as dry as stale bread or run away with the African freedom fighter? Her heart takes her to Africa, where her writing career blossoms but her marriage sours. <em>The Heart of a Woman</em> is filled with beautiful prose and songs; Angelou displays her music talent in several vignettes, most memorably in a scene with Billie Holiday: Angelou is performing at a nightclub when Holiday shrieks, "Stop her, stop her... she sounds like my mama!" </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"I know that not since the days of my childhood, when people in books were more real than the people one saw every day, have I found myself SO moved."<br /></p><p>-- James Baldwin<br /></p><p>"Full of laughter and tears, love and hate, failures and triumphs, and above all, understanding."<br /></p><p>-- John O. Killens<br /></p><p>"Gather Together in My Name<br /></p><p>"Gather Together in My Name is part of a select body of literature that includes The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Claude Brown's Manchild in the Promised land, and Ernest J. Gaines's The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Maya Angelou regards the world and herself with intelligence and wit; she records the events of her life with style and grace."<br /></p><p>-- William McPherson, The Washington Post Book World<br /></p><p>"Here the 'caged bird' soars, and sings in a voice as rich and funny, passionate and mellow as any writer I know."<br /></p><p>-- Shana Alexander<br /></p><p><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em></p>