money 10 Essential bell hooks Books to Read In Your Lifetime
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10 Essential bell hooks Books to Read In Your Lifetime
Beginning with her first poetry collection in 1978, bell hooks—renowned professor, writer, and activist—penned 34 expert works on feminism and race, challenging the way readers viewed both in our society. Like James Baldwin, Angela Davis, and Maya Angelou, she was not just one of America's greatest writers, but a necessary literary voice that brought the Black community's stories to the forefront.
After receiving her bachelor's at Stanford and going on to earn her doctorate at the University of California, hooks brought her unyielding and honest perspective to the world of feminist literature. From her first-ever book, Ain't I a Woman to the celebrated All About Love, hooks's goal has always been to enlighten. Perhaps one of her most fitting quotes? In 1999's Remembered Rapture, she wrote: "No Black woman writer in this culture can write 'too much.' Indeed, no woman writer can write 'too much'... No woman has ever written enough.”
Before her death at the age of 69 on December 15, 2021, the Hopkinsville native was a professor at Kentucky's Berea College for over 15 years. She was also the founder of the bell hooks Institute, which "celebrates, honors, and documents the life and work" of its namesake. Below we list 10 choice bell hooks books to begin with, but there are plenty more out there if you can't get enough.
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1) The Will to Change (2004)
amazon.com
$12.99
In this acclaimed work, hooks speaks to men of all ages, ethnicities, and sexual orientations to address their pressing questions about love and masculinity.
amazon.com - 3/11
2) Communion (2002)
William Morrow & Company
amazon.com
$15.99
Communion serves as a heartfelt address to women, guiding them to search for and choose love as a way to set them on the path to ultimate freedom.
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3) All About Love (2000)
William Morrow & Company
amazon.com
$11.37
In what is arguably hooks's most popular work, the scholar seeks to clarify the true definition of love in our society. In coming to a true understanding of what love really means in a community, she argues that we'll be better able to address societal divisions.
amazon.com - 5/11
4) Feminism Is for Everybody (2000)
amazon.com
$17.25
In this brief, but passionate book, hooks makes an argument as to why feminism is a concept that everyone can support. While critiquing the forces she feels initially made the movement inaccessible for some, she introduces steps communities can make to turn feminism into a welcome idea in our culture.
amazon.com - 6/11
5) Where We Stand (2000)
amazon.com
$31.69
In an honest reflection, hooks goes back to her roots to analyze the intersectionality of class and race and how society can break free of their systematic boundaries.
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6) Bone Black (1996)
Holt Paperbacks
amazon.com
$13.99
As a memoir, Bone Black is a revealing look into hook's life, delving into her journey to womanhood and a career as a writer in a society that systematically treats men and women unequally.
amazon.com - 8/11
7) Killing Rage (1995)
Holt Paperbacks
amazon.com
$13.79
Written from the perspective of feminists and Black Americans, Killing Rage is a book of 23 essays that address the reality of systematic racism in the United States.
amazon.com - 9/11
8) Teaching To Transgress (1994)
amazon.com
$35.39
Here, she expresses the idea that all teachers should strive to instruct their students to achieve freedom for all by rejecting sexual, racial, and class divides.
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9) Feminist Theory (1984)
amazon.com
$17.25
Thought of as provocative when it was first published in 1984, hooks's feminist theory boldly critiqued the lack of intersectionality in the feminist movement, instead providing a blueprint that unified all in the fight for gender equality.
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10) Ain't I a Woman (1981)
amazon.com
$26.49
With her first feminist work, the activist analyzes Black womanhood and the historical and societal factors that affect a Black woman's place in the world, beyond sexist and racist stereotypes.
amazon.com
We list 10 bell hooks books on feminism, race, love, and class to begin with, but she has plenty more out there if you just can get enough.
