Synopses & Reviews
In this, her first collection of nonfiction, Alice Walker speaks out as a
black woman, writer, mother, and feminist in thirty-six pieces ranging
from the personal to the political. Among the contents are essays about
other writers, accounts of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the
antinuclear movement of the 1980s, and a vivid memoir of a scarring
childhood injury and her daughters healing words.
Review
PRAISE FOR IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHERSGARDENS“Reflects not only the ideas but a life that has . . . breathed color, sound, and soul
into fiction and poetry—and into our lives as well.”
—SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Synopsis
As a woman, writer, mother, and feminist, Walker explores the theories and practices of feminism, incorporating what she calls the “womanist” tradition of African american women.
About the Author
Best-selling novelist ALICE WALKER is the author of five other novels, five collections of short stories, six collections of essays, seven volumes of poetry, including the most recent Hard Times Require Furious Dancing, and several childrens books. Her books have been translated into more than two dozen languages.
Table of Contents
Saving the life that is your own : the importance of models in the artist's life -- The Black writer and the Southern experience -- "But yet and still the cotton gin kept on working--" -- A talk : convocation -- Beyond the peacock : the reconstruction of Flannery O'Connor -- The divided life of Jean Toomer -- A writer because of, not in spite of, her children -- Gifts of power : the writings of Rebecca Jackson -- Zora Neale Hurston : a cautionary tale and a partisan view -- Looking for Zora -- The civil rights movement : what good was it? -- The unglamorous by worthwhile duties of the Black revolutionary artist, or of the Black writer who simply works and writes -- The almost year -- Choice : a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Coretta King : revisited -- Choosing to stay at home : ten years after the March on Washington -- Good morning, revolution : uncollected writings of social protest -- Making the movies and the movies we want -- Lulls -- My father's country is so poor -- Recording the seasons -- In search of our mothers' gardens -- From an interview -- A letter to the editor of Ms. -- Breaking chains and encouraging life -- If the present looks like the past, what does the future look like? -- Looking to the side, and back -- To The Black scholar -- Brothers and sisters -- Silver writes -- Only justice can stop a curse -- Nuclear madness : what you can do -- To the editors of Ms. magazine -- Writing The color purple -- One child of one's own : a meaningful digression within the work(s) -- Beauty : when the other dancer is the self.