Angela Y. Davis

Angela Davis's autobiography recounting her life as a political activist 

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Nevada

An Autobiography

"An activist. An author. A scholar. An abolitionist. A legend."
--Ibram X. Kendi

This beautiful new edition of Angela Davis's classic Autobiography features an expansive new introduction by the author.

"I am excited to be publishing this new edition of my autobiography with Haymarket Books at a time when so many are making collective demands for radical change and are seeking a deeper understanding of the social movements of the past." --Angela Y. Davis

Angela Davis has been a political activist at the cutting edge of the Black Liberation, feminist, queer, and prison abolitionist movements for more than 50 years. First published and edited by Toni Morrison in 1974, An Autobiography is a powerful and commanding account of her early years in struggle. 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 U.S. Communist Party, the Black Panther Party, and the Soledad Brothers; and from the faculty of the Philosophy Department at UCLA to the FBI's list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Told with warmth, brilliance, humor and conviction, Angela Davis's autobiography is a classic account of a life in struggle with echoes in our own time.

Angela Davis

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Little to no shelf wear on the jacket. Pages in amazing shape. Crisp and clean. Low mileage. Sharp photography. Please see photos for reference.

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Ohio

Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday

From one of this country's most important intellectuals comes a brilliant analysis of the blues tradition that examines the careers of three crucial black women blues singers through a feminist lens. Angela Davis provides the historical, social, and political contexts with which to reinterpret the performances and lyrics of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday as powerful articulations of an alternative consciousness profoundly at odds with mainstream American culture.

The works of Rainey, Smith, and Holiday have been largely misunderstood by critics. Overlooked, Davis shows, has been the way their candor and bravado laid the groundwork for an aesthetic that allowed for the celebration of social, moral, and sexual values outside the constraints imposed by middle-class respectability. Through meticulous transcriptions of all the extant lyrics of Rainey and Smith--published here in their entirety for the first time--Davis demonstrates how the roots of the blues extend beyond a musical tradition to serve as a conciousness-raising vehicle for American social memory. A stunning, indispensable contribution to American history, as boldly insightful as the women Davis praises, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism is a triumph.

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism

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Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Pennsylvania

A powerful study of the women’s liberation movement in the U.S., from abolitionist days to the present, that demonstrates how it has always been hampered by the racist and classist biases of its leaders. From the widely revered and legendary political activist and scholar Angela Davis.--Publisher website.

Women, Race and Class

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Pre-owned Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday paperback book by Angela Y. Davis. Copyright 1998. 

Has Used Book stickes (see all photos). Otherwise in Very Good condition. 

Thank you for visiting. 

Virginia

From one of this country's most important intellectuals comes a brilliant analysis of the blues tradition that examines the careers of three crucial black women blues singers through a feminist lens. Angela Davis provides the historical, social, and political contexts with which to reinterpret the performances and lyrics of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday as powerful articulations of an alternative consciousness profoundly at odds with mainstream American culture. The works of Rainey, Smith, and Holiday have been largely misunderstood by critics. Overlooked, Davis shows, has been the way their candor and bravado laid the groundwork for an aesthetic that allowed for the celebration of social, moral, and sexual values outside the constraints imposed by middle-class respectability. Through meticulous transcriptions of all the extant lyrics of Rainey and Smith—published here in their entirety for the first time—Davis demonstrates how the roots of the blues extend beyond a musical tradition to serve as a conciousness-raising vehicle for American social memory. A stunning, indispensable contribution to American history, as boldly insightful as the women Davis praises, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism is a triumph.

Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis is a groundbreaking and essential work of feminist scholarship that explores the intersections of gender, race, and class in the history of women’s liberation movements in the United States. With powerful insight and historical depth, Davis critically examines how Black women, working-class women, and other marginalized groups have been systematically excluded from dominant feminist narratives and struggles for civil rights. This book is not just a historical account it’s a call to action. Davis unpacks the roles played by abolitionists, suffragists, and civil rights activists to reveal how race and class have shaped and often divided women’s movements. It’s an eye-opening and deeply relevant read for those interested in social justice, equity, and inclusive activism. This premium leather bound edition adds both elegance and durability to a book that deserves a permanent place in every socially conscious reader’s library. It is perfect for scholars, activists, and anyone seeking a more nuanced understanding of feminist history.

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Texas

Premium Leather-Bound Edition

Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis Leather-Bound Edition

Maryland

With her characteristic brilliance, grace and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. For generations of Americans, the abolition of slavery was sheerest illusion. Similarly,the entrenched system of racial segregation seemed to last forever, and generations lived in the midst of the practice, with few predicting its passage from custom. The brutal, exploitative (dare one say lucrative?) convict-lease system that succeeded formal slavery reaped millions to southern jurisdictions (and untold miseries for tens of thousands of men, and women). Few predicted its passing from the American penal landscape. Davis expertly argues how social movements transformed these social, political and cultural institutions, and made such practices untenable. In Are Prisons Obsolete?, Professor Davis seeks to illustrate that the time for the prison is approaching an end. She argues forthrightly for "decarceration", and argues for the transformation of the society as a whole.

Are Prisons Obsolete?

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Robin D. G. Kelley

Connecticut

And Other Difficult Dialogues

Want to Better Understand Socialism? New York Magazine recommends The Meaning of Freedom

What is the meaning of freedom? Angela Y. Davis' life and work have been dedicated to examining this fundamental question and to ending all forms of oppression that deny people their political, cultural, and sexual freedom. In this collection of twelve searing, previously unpublished speeches, Davis confronts the interconnected issues of power, race, gender, class, incarceration, conservatism, and the ongoing need for social change in the United States. With her characteristic brilliance, historical insight, and penetrating analysis, Davis addresses examples of institutional injustice and explores the radical notion of freedom as a collective striving for real democracy - not something granted or guaranteed through laws, proclamations, or policies, but something that grows from a participatory social process that demands new ways of thinking and being. "The speeches gathered together here are timely and timeless," writes Robin D.G. Kelley in the foreword, "they embody Angela Davis' uniquely radical vision of the society we need to build, and the path to get there."

The Meaning of Freedom articulates a bold vision of the society we need to build and the path to get there. This is her only book of speeches.

"Davis' arguments for justice are formidable. . . . The power of her historical insights and the sweetness of her dream cannot be denied."--The New York Times

"One of America's last truly fearless public intellectuals." --Cynthia McKinney, former US Congresswoman

"Angela Davis deserves credit, not just for the dignity and courage with which she has lived her life, but also for raising important critiques of a for-profit penitentiary system decades before those arguments gained purchase in the mainstream." --Thomas Chatterton Williams, SFGate

"Angela Davis's revolutionary spirit is still strong. Still with us, thank goodness!"

--Virginian-Pilot

"Long before 'race/gender' became the obligatory injunction it is now, Angela Davis was developing an analytical framework that brought all of these factors into play. For readers who only see Angela Davis as a public icon . . . meet the real Angela Davis: perhaps the leading public intellectual of our era." --Robin D. G. Kelley author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original

"There was a time in America when to call a person an 'abolitionist' was the ultimate epithet. It evoked scorn in the North and outrage in the South. Yet they were the harbingers of things to come. They were on the right side of history. Prof. Angela Y. Davis stands in that proud, radical tradition." --Mumia Abu-Jamal, author of Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A.

"Behold the heart and mind of Angela Davis, open, relentless, and on time!" --June Jordan

The Meaning of Freedom

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Gina Dent

Erica R. Meiners

Has a scratch on back cover (photo included) but never read

Michigan

Abolition. Feminism. Now. is a celebration of freedom work, a movement genealogy, a call to action, and a challenge to those who think of abolition and feminism as separate--even incompatible--political projects.

In this remarkable collaborative work, leading scholar-activists Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica R. Meiners, and Beth E. Richie surface the often unrecognized genealogies of queer, anti-capitalist, internationalist, grassroots, and women-of-color-led feminist movements, struggles, and organizations that have helped to define abolition and feminism in the twenty-first century.

This pathbreaking book also features illustrations documenting the work of grassroots organizers embodying abolitionist feminist practice.

Amplifying the analysis and the theories of change generated out of vibrant community based organizing, Abolition. Feminism. Now. highlights necessary historical linkages, key internationalist learnings, and everyday practices to imagine a future where we can all thrive.

Abolition. Feminism. Now

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Oregon

Karen G.J. Lewis

Elizabeth Todd-Breland

Maine

My Life and Education

An intimate, inspiring memoir by educator and labor union leader Karen Lewis, a formidable fighter, a staunch defender of teachers and students, and a beloved Chicagoan. In 2012, Karen Lewis led the Chicago Teachers Union to a historic strike, challenging the city's powerful mayor and paving the way for an unprecedented wave of teacher strikes in the decade that followed. But Lewis's life took her in rich and surprising directions long before she landed in the CTU President's office. I Didn't Come Here to Lie, written in collaboration with historian and education expert Elizabeth Todd-Breland, tells Lewis's story in full for the first time, capturing her lively wit, her charisma, and her commitment to building the schools and communities teachers, students, and families deserve. From her childhood on Chicago's South Side to her teen years organizing Black Power walkouts, from her education at Mount Holyoke and Dartmouth to her years in Oklahoma and Barbados and her stints in medical school and film school, readers follow Lewis through a life full of exploration. Wherever she was, she maintained a strong commitment to building fairness. She found her calling in the classroom, teaching science for more than twenty years before becoming a union leader in Chicago. Up until her untimely death from brain cancer in 2021, Karen Lewis was spirited, unshakeable, and fierce. She remains a model for current organizers and teachers doing the day-to-day work of building a better world. I Didn't Come Here to Lie is a testament to one of the true revolutionaries of her generation.

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Angela Y. Davis

Angela Davis

Angela Y. Davis

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism

Angela Y. Davis

Women, Race and Class

Angela Y. Davis

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism

Angela Y. Davis

Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis Leather-Bound Edition

Angela Y. Davis

Are Prisons Obsolete?

Angela Y. Davis; Robin D. G. Kelley

The Meaning of Freedom

Gina Dent; Erica R. Meiners; Angela Y. Davis

Abolition. Feminism. Now

Gina Dent; Erica R. Meiners; Angela Y. Davis

Abolition. Feminism. Now

Karen G.J. Lewis; Elizabeth Todd-Breland; Angela Y. Davis

I Didn't Come Here to Lie

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Save this search

Angela Y. Davis

Angela Davis

Angela Y. Davis

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism

Angela Y. Davis

Women, Race and Class

Angela Y. Davis

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism

Angela Y. Davis

Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis Leather-Bound Edition

Angela Y. Davis

Are Prisons Obsolete?

Angela Y. Davis; Robin D. G. Kelley

The Meaning of Freedom

Gina Dent; Erica R. Meiners; Angela Y. Davis

Abolition. Feminism. Now

Gina Dent; Erica R. Meiners; Angela Y. Davis

Abolition. Feminism. Now

Karen G.J. Lewis; Elizabeth Todd-Breland; Angela Y. Davis

I Didn't Come Here to Lie