Synopses & Reviews
Here Maya Angelou, dazzling entertainer, casts the spotlight on her show business career -- a pageant of international scope. Maya, the woman, shares her sad, failed marriage to a white man, her early motherhood and achingly sensitive relationship with her young son, and her bone-deep, painful suspicion of the white world that welcomes her talent so dramatically ...
About the Author
Maya Angelou has written five volumes of autobiography, including the bestselling I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and many collections of poetry, as well as "On the Pulse of Morning," the poem she read at the inauguration of President William Jefferson Clinton in 1993. All of her poems have been gathered together in The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou is currently Reynolds Professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
From the Hardcover edition.
Reading Group Guide
Memoirist, novelist, poet, and dramatist, Maya Angelou is one of the best-loved writers of our time. She is widely acclaimed for her searing, inspiring writings--and she has been praised for confronting both the racial and sexual pressures on black women, and for infusing her work with a perspective on larger social and political movements, including civil rights.
In the volumes of her bestselling personal story--one of the most remarkable narratives ever shared--Maya Angelou writes about the struggles and triumphs of her extraordinary life with candor, humor, poignancy, and grace. These include:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The classic autobiography of her young years.
Gather Together In My Name
The coming-of-age story of her struggle for survival as a young unwed mother.
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas
The saga of her show business career, her failed marriage, and her early motherhood.
The Heart of a Woman
The turbulent story of her emergence as a writer and a political activist.
Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now
Her exhilarating collection of wisdom, spirituality, and life lessons.
1. If I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is about self-discovery, and Gather Together in My Name is about self-reliance, what theme would you derive from Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas?
2. What is the significance of the author discarding the nicknames "Ritie", "Sugar", and "Rita"?
3. On her travels around the world and throughout the book, what does Maya learn about prejudice and tolerance?
4. How would you characterize Guy? In what ways are he and his mother alike? How do they differ?