Read by the author

This new edition of Angela Davis's classic Autobiography features an expansive new introduction by the author. Angela Davis has been a political activist at the cutting edge of the Black Liberation, feminist, queer, and prison-abolitionist movements for more than fifty years. Angela Davis: An Autobiography, first published and edited by Toni Morrison in 1974, is a powerful and commanding account of her early years in these struggles. Davis describes her journey from a childhood on Dynamite Hill in Birmingham, Alabama, to one of the most significant political trials of the century: from her political activity in a New York high school to her work with the US Communist Party, the Black Panther Party, and the Soledad Brothers; and from the faculty of the philosophy department at the University of California at Los Angeles to the FBI's list of the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives." Read by Angela Davis herself, this autobiography, told with warmth, brilliance, humor, and conviction, is a classic account of a life in struggle, with echoes in our own time. "Angela Davis: An Autobiography is riveting, as fresh and relevant today as it was almost fifty years ago. The words fire off the page with humor, anger, and eloquence." "The rare book that even almost fifty years later feels timely and relevant. Maybe too relevant, considering how little has changed in the interim." "As an iconic educator, scholar, and leader in the civil rights movement, Angela Davis is an obligatory add to your list of must-read black authors." "Still a key work in the areas of prison abolition and feminism, this reissue of a classic autobiography deserves a place of honor in any collection." "In a new and engaging introduction…Davis accessibly argues that what we experience as contemporary events, such as the response to George Floyd's murder, can be contextualized by history. Never dogmatic, Davis allows a rare smile to color her voice while, overall, delivering a formal presentation."

Mode of access: World Wide Web