The culmination of a unique achievement in modern American literature: the six volumes of autobiography that began more than thirty years ago with the appearance of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
A Song Flung Up to Heaven opens as Maya Angelou returns from Africa to the United States to work with Malcolm X. But first she has to journey to California to be reunited with her mother and brother. No sooner does she arrive there...

In this book, Angelou details what brought her mother to send her away, and unearths the well of emotions she experienced long afterward as a result. For the first time, she reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence, a presence absent during much of the author's early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old...

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker is known worldwide for her moving literary fiction. In her memoir The Chicken Chronicles, Walker imparts insightful life lessons and wisdom inspired by her experiences with raising chickens. Through the years, her relationship with the creatures strengthened her connection to the natural world-and became a great source of inspiration.

A coming-of-age memoir about Blackness, masculinity and addiction follows the author, a poet and screenwriter, as he recounts his experiences, revealing a perpetual outsider awkwardly squirming to find his way in.

Carter narrates the life story of his exceptional grandmother, Eunice Carter, an African-American attorney who masterminded the sting operation that resulted in the imprisonment of mobster Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Working under governor Thomas Dewey, Dewey repeatedly passed her over when making appointments. The author provides analysis on this time in history in which most African-Americans moved from voting Republican to Democrat. Carter also provides...