"A biography of African American writer, performer, and activist Maya Angelou, who turned a childhood of trauma and emotional pain to become one of the most inspiring voices of our lifetime. Includes afterword, author's note, and sources"--

The inspiring true story of how courage, a dream, and some needle and thread can change a life forever...

Since she was young, Tala Raassi knew her fate lay in fashion. But growing up in her beloved homeland of Iran, a woman can be punished for exposing her hair in public, let alone wearing the newest trends. Despite strict regulations, Tala developed a keen sense of style in backroom cafes and secret parties. She never imagined

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"Diane Guerrero, the television actress from the megahit Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, was just fourteen years old on the day her parents and brother were arrested and deported to Colombia while she was at school. Born in the U.S., Guerrero was able to remain in the country and continue her education, depending on the kindness of family friends who took her in and helped her build a life and a successful acting career for herself, without...

"The 'mesmerizing... daring and important' story of a risk-taking girlhood spent in a working-class prison town--Andre Dubus III. For Maureen Stanton's proper Catholic mother, the town's maximum security prison was a way to keep her seven children in line ('If you don't behave, I'll put you in Walpole Prison!'). But as the 1970s brought upheaval to America, and the lines between good and bad blurred, Stanton's once-solid family lost its way. A promising...

"Since the publication of her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou has been celebrated as one of America's most important writers. A National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize nominee, she lent her signature voice to countless works of literature, her words indelibly imprinted on the hearts of millions. Inspired by the woman who has inspired us all, Rainbow in the Cloud offers more than 200 of Dr. Angelou's most pivotal...

"Henry Louis Gates, Jr., gives us a sumptuously illustrated, landmark book tracing African American history from the arrival of the conquistadors to the election of Barack Obama. Informed by the latest, sometimes provocative scholarship, and including more than eight hundred images--ancient maps, art, documents, photographs, cartoons, posters--Life Upon These Shores focuses on defining events, debates, and controversies, as well as the achievements...

This absorbing debut memoir recounts an American gardener's apprenticeship with the most prestigious gardening firm in Kyoto. --Publisher.

"It has been one hundred years since Agatha Christie wrote her first novel and created the formidable Hercule Poirot. A brilliant and award winning biographer, Laura Thompson now turns her sharp eye to Agatha Christie. Arguably the greatest crime writer in the world, Christie's books still sell over four million copies each year--more than thirty years after her death--and it shows no signs of slowing. But who was the woman behind these mystifying,...

A searing memoir by a young black man who was a lost cause until he landed in a rehabilitation program that saved his life and gave him purpose. Born into abject poverty in Haiti, St. Germain's family moved to Brooklyn's Crown Heights where he adapted to street life and began stealing, dealing drugs, and growing increasingly indifferent to despair and violence. At the age of fifteen he was placed in "Boys Town," a nonsecure detention facility designed...

"One of Maria Chaudhuri's early memories growing up in Dhaka was planning to run away with her friend Nadia. Home was not an especially unhappy place, but in Maria's family, joy was ephemeral. With a mother who yearned for the mountains and the solitariness and freedom to pursue her own dreams and career, and a charismatic but distant father who found it difficult to express emotion, they were never able to hold on to happiness for very long. Maria...