I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The Easton Press, 2015. Signed Collector's Edition. Leather bound and boxed. Very good. [8], 281, [1] pages. Boxed, With Certificate of Authenticity laid in, signed by Maya Angelou and witnessed by Mildred Garris on 2/16/99. Also signed by Roy S. Pfeil, Publisher. Signed on a special signature page by Maya Angelou with the sentiment Joy!. Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014) was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim. She became a poet and writer after a series of occupations as a young adult. She was an actress, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of black culture. Her books center on themes such as racism, identity, family and travel. Derived from a Kirkus review: Maya Angelou is a natural writer with an inordinate sense of life and she has written an exceptional autobiographical narrative which retrieves her first sixteen years from "the general darkness just beyond the great blinkers of childhood." Her story is told in scenes, ineluctably moving scenes, from the time when she and her brother were sent by her fancy living parents to Stamps, Arkansas, and a grandmother who had the local Store. Displaced they were and "If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat." But alternating with all the pain and terror and humiliation and fear as well as all the unanswered and unanswerable questions, there are affirmative memories and moments: her charming brother Bailey; her own "unshakable God"; a revival meeting in a tent; her 8th grade graduation; and at the end, when she's sixteen, the birth of a baby. Times When as she says "It seemed that the peace of a day's ending was an assurance that the covenant God made with children, Negroes and the crippled was still in effect." However charily one should apply the word, a beautiful book, an unconditionally involving memoir for our time or any time. Easton Press, a division of MBI, Inc., based in Norwalk, Connecticut, is a publisher specializing in high-quality leather-bound books. In addition to canonical classics, poetry and art books, they publish a large library of science fiction and popular literature as well. Some of Easton Press's products are arranged in monthly subscription series. The Easton Press's books are known for their elegant covers and beautiful illustrations by well-known artists. Each book has the following features: Bound in genuine leather Spine accented with 22 kt gold Printed on acid-free paper[2] Gilded page edges.