<div>A collection of early personal and political essays from the Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of The Color Purple. What is a womanist? Alice Walker sets out to define the concept in this anthology of early essays and other nonfiction pieces. As she outlines it, a womanist is a person who prefers to side with the oppressed: with women, with people of color, with the poor. As a writer, Walker has always taken such people as her primary subjects, and her search for paths toward self-possession and freedom always holds out hope for the transformative power of compassion and love. Whether she&rsquo;s taking on nuclear proliferation, the promise and problems of the civil rights movement, or her own creative process, Walker always brings to bear a fearless determination to tell the truth. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection. </div>

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In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens

<div>&ldquo;A classic novel of both feminism and the Civil Rights movement&rdquo; in 1960s Atlanta by the Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of The Color Purple (Ms.). As she approaches the end of her teen years, Meridian Hill has already married, divorced, and given birth to a son. She&rsquo;s looking for a second chance, and at a small college outside Atlanta, Georgia, in the early 1960s, Meridian discovers the civil rights movement. So fully does the cause guide her life that she&rsquo;s willing to sacrifice virtually anything to help transform the conditions of a people whose subjugation she shares. Meridian draws from Walker&rsquo;s own experiences working alongside some of the heroes of the civil rights movement, and the novel stands as a shrewd and affecting document of the dissolution of the Jim Crow South. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Meridian

<div>Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, this novel about a resilient and courageous woman has become a Broadway show and a cultural phenomenon. A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick Celie has grown up poor in rural Georgia, despised by the society around her and abused by her own family. She strives to protect her sister, Nettie, from a similar fate, and while Nettie escapes to a new life as a missionary in Africa, Celie is left behind without her best friend and confidante, married off to an older suitor, and sentenced to a life alone with a harsh and brutal husband. In an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear, Celie begins writing letters directly to God. The letters, spanning twenty years, record a journey of self-discovery and empowerment guided by the light of a few strong women. She meets Shug Avery, her husband&rsquo;s mistress and a jazz singer with a zest for life, and her stepson&rsquo;s wife, Sophia, who challenges her to fight for independence. And though the many letters from Celie&rsquo;s sister are hidden by her husband, Nettie&rsquo;s unwavering support will prove to be the most breathtaking of all. The Color Purple has sold more than five million copies, inspired an Academy Award&ndash;nominated film starring Oprah Winfrey and directed by Steven Spielberg, and been adapted into a Tony-nominated Broadway musical. Lauded as a literary masterpiece, this is the groundbreaking novel that placed Walker &ldquo;in the company of Faulkner&rdquo; (The Nation), and remains a wrenching&mdash;yet intensely uplifting&mdash;experience for new generations of readers. This ebook features a new introduction written by the author on the twenty-fifth anniversary of publication, and an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection. The Color Purple is the 1st book in the Color Purple Collection, which also includes The Temple of My Familiar and Possessing the Secret of Joy. </div>

The Color Purple

<div>From the New York Times&ndash;bestselling author of The Color Purple: A &ldquo;moving, tender&rdquo; novel of a Deep South tenant farmer&rsquo;s quest for a new life (Publishers Weekly). Grange Copeland, a deeply conflicted and struggling tenant farmer in the Deep South of the 1930s, leaves his family and everything he&rsquo;s ever known to find happiness and respect in the cold cities of the North. This misadventure, his &ldquo;second life,&rdquo; proves a dismal failure that sends him back where he came from to confront his now-grown-up son&rsquo;s disastrous relationships with his own family, including Grange&rsquo;s granddaughter, Ruth Copeland, a child that Grange grows to love. Love becomes the substance of his third and final life. He spends it in devotion to Ruth, teaching and protecting her&mdash;though the cost of doing so is almost more than he can bear. From a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, this is an &ldquo;honest sensitive tale . . . leavened by those moments of humor and warmth that have enabled men and women to endure so much tragedy&rdquo; (Chicago Daily News). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

The Third Life of Grange Copeland

<div>Alice Walker&rsquo;s first published book collects poems written as a student and on her first visit to Africa For readers seeking the origins of Alice Walker&rsquo;s potent, distinctive voice, this collection will provide ample insight. Composed while she was still a student at Sarah Lawrence College in the late 1960s, these poems are already engaged with some of the moral dilemmas that have defined Walker&rsquo;s entire career. Luminous vignettes from her first trip to Africa give way to reflections on the flourishing civil rights movement, while an eye for the transformative power of love and beauty run through all twenty-seven entries. Walker&rsquo;s talents are prodigious, yet it&rsquo;s her pure moral and aesthetic clarity that impress most in this debut work. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Once

<div>National Book Award Finalist: The love poems of an author caught up in a hopeful and sometimes violent upheaval. When Alice Walker published her second collection of poems in 1976, she had spent the previous decade deeply immersed in the civil rights movement. In these verses are her most visceral reactions to a moment in history that would shape the country, and that she herself influenced through words and advocacy. In hymns to ancestors, passionate polemics, and laments for lost possibilities, Walker addresses the problems of the past while keeping an eye on the possibilities of the future. Even in the midst of the call for change, these poems reveal a deep yearning for individual connection to others, as well as a deeply personal connection to nature. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Revolutionary Petunias

<div>Poems from the author of The Color Purple: &ldquo;This book has two fine strengths&mdash;a music that comes along sometimes [and] Walker&rsquo;s own tragicomic gifts&rdquo; (The New York Times Book Review). The title of this collection comes from a Native American shaman who, reflecting on the terrible problems brought by white colonizers, nearly forgave them all because with the settlers came horses to the North American Plains. And, indeed, in these poems we find Alice Walker seeking a saving grace even in the most difficult circumstances, and in the hearts of the most brutal oppressors. Here Walker&rsquo;s attention turns toward the small moments and subliminal exchanges between lovers and enemies, even as her verse addresses concerns as vast as the choking of the planet by war and pollution. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Overdrive

Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful

<div>Short fiction about the female experience from the New York Times&ndash;bestselling author of The Color Purple, &ldquo;one of the best American writers of today&rdquo; (The Washington Post). Here are stories of women traveling with the weight of broken dreams, with kids in tow, with doubt and regret, with memories of lost loves, with lovers who have their own hard pasts and hard edges. Some from the South, some from the North, some rich and some poor, the characters that inhabit InLove &amp; Trouble all seek a measure of self-fulfillment, even as they struggle with difficult circumstances and limiting social conventions. The stories that make up Alice Walker&rsquo;s debut short fiction collection reflect her tenacious commitment to face brutal and sometimes melancholy truths while also illuminating the ways in which the courageous pursuit of love brings hope to even the most harrowing lives. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

In Love &amp; Trouble

<div>The Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of The Color Purple weaves a &ldquo;glorious and iridescent&rdquo; tapestry of interrelated lives in this New York Times bestseller (Library Journal). In The Temple of My Familiar, Celie and Shug from The Color Purple subtly shadow the lives of dozens of characters, all dealing in some way with the legacy of the African experience in America. From recent African immigrants, to a woman who grew up in the mixed-race rainforest communities of South America, to Celie&rsquo;s own granddaughter living in modern-day San Francisco, all must come to understand the brutal stories of their ancestors to come to terms with their own troubled lives. As Walker follows these astonishing characters, she weaves a new mythology from old fables and history, a profoundly spiritual explanation for centuries of shared African-American experience. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection. The Temple of My Familiar is the 2nd book in the Color Purple Collection, which also includes The Color Purple and Possessing the Secret of Joy.</div>

The Temple of My Familiar

<div>An American woman struggles with the genital mutilation she endured as a child in Africa in a New York Times bestseller &ldquo;as compelling as The Color Purple&rdquo; (San Francisco Chronicle). In Tashi&rsquo;s tribe, the Olinka, young girls undergo female genital mutilation as an initiation into the community. Tashi manages to avoid this fate at first, but when pressed by tribal leaders, she submits. Years later, married and living in America as Evelyn Johnson, Tashi&rsquo;s inner pain emerges. As she questions why such a terrifying, disfiguring sacrifice was required, she sorts through the many levels of subjugation with which she&rsquo;s been burdened over the years. In Possessing the Secret of Joy, Alice Walker exposes the abhorrent practice of female genital mutilation in an unforgettable, moving novel. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection. Possessing the Secret of Joy is the 3rd book in the Color Purple Collection, which also includes The Color Purple and The Temple of My Familiar.</div>

Possessing the Secret of Joy

<div>Three novels by a New York Times&ndash;bestselling author&mdash;including the Pulitzer Prizewinner The Color Purple&mdash;that speak to the African experience in America. The Color Purple is Alice Walker&rsquo;s stunning, Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning novel of courage in the face of oppression. Celie grows up in rural Georgia, navigating a childhood of ceaseless abuse. Not only is she poor and despised by the society around her, she&rsquo;s badly treated by her family. As a teenager she begins writing letters directly to God in an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear. Her letters span twenty years and record a journey of self-discovery and empowerment through the guiding light of a few strong women and her own implacable will to find harmony with herself and her home. In The Temple of My Familiar, Celie and Shug from The Color Purple follow the lives of a brilliant cast of characters, all dealing in some way with the legacy of the African experience in America. From recent African immigrants, to a woman who grew up in the mixed-race rainforest communities of South America, to Celie&rsquo;s own granddaughter living in modern-day San Francisco, all must come to understand the brutal stories of their ancestors to come to terms with their own troubled lives. Possessing the Secret of Joy portrays Tashi&rsquo;s tribe, the Olinka, where young girls undergo genital mutilation as an initiation into the community. Tashi manages to avoid this fate at first, but when pressed by tribal leaders, she submits. Years later, married and living in America as Evelyn Johnson, Tashi&rsquo;s inner pain emerges. As she questions why such a terrifying, disfiguring sacrifice was required, she sorts through the many levels of subjugation with which she&rsquo;s been burdened over the years. Hailed by the Washington Post as &ldquo;one of the best American writers of today,&rdquo; Alice Walker is a master storyteller and a major voice in modern literary fiction. </div>

The Color Purple Collection

<div>Women stand their ground in the midst of crisis in this story collection by the New York Times&ndash;bestselling author of The Color Purple. This collection builds on Alice Walker&rsquo;s earlier work, the much-praised In Love &amp; Trouble. But unlike her first collection of stories, the women in these tenderly wrought tales face their problems head on, proving powerful and self-possessed even when degraded by others&mdash;sometimes by those closest to them. But even as the female protagonists face exploitation, social asymmetries, and casual cruelties, Walker leavens her stories with ample wit and, as always, an eye for the redemptive power of love. A collection that reveals a master of fiction approaching the fullness of her talent, these are the stories Walker produced while penning The Color Purple. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down

<div>Essays from the Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of The Color Purple&mdash;&ldquo;Vintage Alice Walker: passionate, political, personal, and poetic&rdquo; (Los Angeles Times). In a follow-up to her collection of essays, In Search of Our Mothers&rsquo; Gardens, Walker takes a look at a vast range of issues both personal and global, from her experience with the filming of The Color Purple, to the history of African-American narrative traditions, to global threats of pollution and nuclear war. Walker travels broadly and maintains an eye for detail, resulting in a captivating journey of conscience by one of the most distinctive political and artistic voices in America. Readers will find inspiration and insights in even the briefest entries of this enthralling anthology. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alice Walker including rare photos from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Living by the Word

<div>Compelling collections of short fiction and essays by the Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of The Color Purple and &ldquo;marvelous writer&rdquo; (San Francisco Chronicle). Whether she is writing fiction or nonfiction, sharing personal reflections or expressing political views, Alice Walker is without question &ldquo;one of [our] best American writers&rdquo; (The Washington Post). The first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize&mdash;for The Color Purple&mdash;Walker is both a committed artist and engaged activist, as reflected in the four works in this volume. Living by the Word: In this &ldquo;entertaining and often stirring&rdquo; follow-up to In Search of Our Mothers&rsquo; Gardens, Walker reflects on issues both personal and global, from her experience with the filming of The Color Purple, to the history of African American narrative traditions, to global threats of pollution and nuclear war (Library Journal). You Can&rsquo;t Keep a Good Woman Down: The women in these &ldquo;consummately skillful short stories&rdquo; face their problems head on, proving powerful and self-possessed even when degraded by others&mdash;sometimes by those closest to them (San Francisco Chronicle). But even as the female protagonists face exploitation, social inequalities, and casual cruelties, Walker leavens her stories with ample wit and &ldquo;[enters] their experience with sympathy but without sentimentality&rdquo; (The Washington Post). In Love &amp; Trouble: Walker&rsquo;s debut short fiction collection features stories of women traveling with the weight of broken dreams, with kids in tow, with doubt and regret, with memories of lost loves, with lovers who have their own hard pasts and hard edges. Some from the South, some from the North, some rich, and some poor, the &ldquo;marvelous characters&rdquo; that inhabit In Love &amp; Trouble &ldquo;come away transformed by knowledge and love but most of all by wonder&rdquo; (Essence). In Search of Our Mother&rsquo;s Gardens: In essays both personal and political about her own work and other writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, Flannery O&rsquo;Connor, and Jean Toomer; the Civil Rights Movement; antinuclear activism; feminism; and a childhood injury that left her emotionally scarred and the healing words of her daughter, Walker &ldquo;reflects not only ideas but a life that has breathed color, sound, and soul into fiction and poetry&mdash;and into our lives as well&rdquo; (San Francisco Chronicle).</div>

Collected Essays, Prose, and Stories

<div>The highly acclaimed first two novels by the Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of The Color Purple and &ldquo;a lavishly gifted writer&rdquo; (The New York Times Book Review). The first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for The Color Purple&mdash;which also won the National Book Award and was adapted into both an award&ndash;winning film starring Whoopi Goldberg and a Tony Award&ndash;winning Broadway musical&mdash;New York Times&ndash;bestselling author Alice Walker is without question &ldquo;one of [our] best American writers&rdquo; (The Washington Post). Before her success with The Color Purple, Walked penned the two powerful and unforgettable novels collected here. Meridian: This &ldquo;classic novel of both feminism and the Civil Rights movement&rdquo; is the story of Meridian Hill, who, as she approaches the end of her teen years, has already married, divorced, and given birth to a son (Ms. Magazine). She&rsquo;s looking for a second chance, and at a small college outside Atlanta, Georgia, in the early 1960s, she becomes involved in the Civil Rights movement. So fully does the cause guide her life that she&rsquo;s willing to sacrifice virtually anything to help transform the conditions of a people whose subjugation she shares. &ldquo;Beautifully presented and utterly convincing.&rdquo; &mdash;The New Yorker &ldquo;A fine, taut novel . . . Remarkable.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times Book Review The Third Life of Grange Copeland: In Walker&rsquo;s debut novel, Grange Copeland, a deeply conflicted and struggling tenant farmer in the Deep South of the 1930s, leaves his family and everything he&rsquo;s ever known to find happiness and respect in the cold cities of the North. This misadventure, his &ldquo;second life,&rdquo; proves a dismal failure that sends him back where he came from to confront his now-grown-up son&rsquo;s disastrous relationships with his own family, including Grange&rsquo;s granddaughter, Ruth Copeland, a child Grange grows to love. Love becomes the substance of his third and final life. He spends it in devotion to Ruth, teaching and protecting her&mdash;though the cost of doing so is almost more than he can bear. &ldquo;[A] splendid novel.&rdquo; &mdash;Chicago Tribune &ldquo;A solid, honest sensitive tale . . . leavened by those moments of humor and warmth that have enabled men and women to endure so much tragedy.&rdquo; &mdash;Chicago Daily News</div>

Meridian and The Third Life of Grange Copeland

<div>The National Book Award&ndash; and Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of The Color Purple explores our modern world with &ldquo;compassion, courage, and humor&rdquo; (Booklist). Alice Walker once ached for retirement, but in the turmoil of the Democratic primaries and the economic collapse of 2008, she realized she simply had a great deal more to say. Leaving her meditation cushion behind, she found herself traveling the world once again to speak of our intertwined personal, spiritual, and political destinies through ruminations, poems, essays, and letters. At the height of her literary powers, this revered American novelist, poet, essayist, and activist invites readers on a journey of political awakening and spiritual insight. While visiting subjects she has addressed throughout her career&mdash;including racism, Africa, Palestinian solidarity, and Cuba&mdash;as well as addressing emergent issues, such as the presidency of Barack Obama and health care, Walker explores her conflicting impulses to retreat into inner contemplation and to remain deeply engaged with the world. Rich with humor and wisdom, and informed by Walker&rsquo;s unique eye for the details of human and natural experience, The Cushion in the Road is &ldquo;a heartfelt response to a new generation&rsquo;s yearning for public service&rdquo; (Kirkus Reviews). &ldquo;Walker&rsquo;s concern for the state of humanity and the planet comes through as impassioned and genuine.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly &ldquo;Quintessential Alice Walker: edgy, demanding, prayerful, loving, and aware. An essential companion for those who wish to be a force for positive change in our perpetually challenging world.&rdquo; &mdash;ForeWord Magazine &ldquo;Infused with a quiet grace and gentle resolve to act responsibly.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews</div>

The Cushion in the Road

<div>A poetry collection of &ldquo;playful and crooning lyricism&rdquo; from the National Book Award&ndash; and Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of The Color Purple (Booklist). In this dazzling new collection, Alice Walker offers over sixty new poems to incite and nurture contemporary activists. Hailed as a &ldquo;lavishly gifted writer,&rdquo; Walker imbues her poetry with evocative images, fresh language, anger, forgiveness, and profound wisdom (The New York Times). Casting her eye toward history, politics, and nature, as well as to world figures such as Jimmy Carter, Gloria Steinem, and the Dalai Lama, she &ldquo;distills struggles, crises, and tragedies down to bright, singing lessons in living with awareness and joy&rdquo; (Booklist). By attentively chronicling the conditions of human life today, Walker shows, as ever, her deep compassion, profound spirituality, and necessary political commitments. The poems in The World Will Follow Joy remind us of our human capacity to come together and take action, even in our troubled political times. &ldquo;Her spirituality, concern for human rights, and almost old-fashioned, determined joyousness run deep and her devoted readers will want to follow her as she turns &lsquo;madness into flowers&rsquo;&rdquo; (Library Journal).</div>

The World Will Follow Joy

<div>The National Book Award&ndash; and Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author&rsquo;s fascinating and far-reaching conversations with acclaimed writers and thought leaders. Spanning more than three decades, this collection of fascinating discussions between Alice Walker and renowned writers, leaders, and teachers, explores the changes that Walker has experienced in the world, as well as the change she herself has brought to it. Compelling literary and cultural figures such as Gloria Steinem, Pema Ch&ouml;dr&ouml;n, and Howard Zinn represent a different stage in Walker&rsquo;s artistic and spiritual development. Yet, they also offer an unprecedented look at her career and political growth. Noted literary scholar Rudolph Byrd sets Walker&rsquo;s work into context with an introductory essay, as well as with a comprehensive annotated bibliography of her writings. &ldquo;Read as separate pieces, these conversations offer vivid glimpses of Walker&rsquo;s energetic personality. Taken together, they offer a sense of her marvelous engagement with her world.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews</div>

The World Has Changed

<div>A &ldquo;life-affirmative and eccentrically inspirational&rdquo; collection from the National Book Award&ndash; and Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of The Color Purple (Kirkus Reviews). In these glorious, offbeat, and compassionate tales, one of America&rsquo;s preeminent authors shares her experiences raising and caring for a flock of affectionately named chickens. Walker addresses her &ldquo;girls&rdquo; directly, sometimes from the intimate proximity of her yard, other times at a great distance, during her travels to Bali and Dharamsala as an activist for peace and justice. On the way, she invites readers along on a surprising journey of spiritual discovery. Both heartbreaking and uplifting, The Chicken Chronicles lets us see a new and deeply personal side of one of the most captivating writers of our time. In turn, Walker has created a powerful touchstone for anyone seeking a deeper connection with the natural world. &ldquo;Heartfelt, thought-provoking ruminations on sustenance from perspectives of both giver and receiver.&rdquo; &mdash;Library Journal &ldquo;Walker&rsquo;s sage, compassionate memoir is meant to be savored and contemplated.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews</div>

The Chicken Chronicles

<div>A &ldquo;well-chosen anthology of the radical historian&rsquo;s prodigious output,&rdquo; from A People&rsquo;s History of the United States and lesser known sources (Kirkus Reviews). When Howard Zinn died in early 2010, millions of Americans mourned the loss of one of the nation&rsquo;s foremost intellectual and political guides; a historian, activist, and truth-teller who, in the words of the New York Times&rsquo;s Bob Herbert, &ldquo;peel[ed] back the rosy veneer of much of American history to reveal sordid realities that had remained hidden for too long.&rdquo; A collection designed to highlight Zinn&rsquo;s essential writings, The Indispensable Zinn includes excerpts from Zinn&rsquo;s bestselling A People&rsquo;s History of the United States; his memoir, You Can&rsquo;t Be Neutral on a Moving Train; his inspiring writings on the civil rights movement, and the full text of his celebrated play, Marx in Soho. Noted historian and activist Timothy Patrick McCarthy provides essential historical and biographical context for each selection. With a foreword by Noam Chomsky and an afterword from Zinn&rsquo;s former Spellman College student and longtime friend, Alice Walker, The Indispensable Zinn is both a fitting tribute to the legacy of a man whose &ldquo;work changed the way millions of people saw the past,&rdquo; and a powerful and accessible introduction for anyone coming to Zinn&rsquo;s essential body of work for the first time (Noam Chomsky).</div>

The Indispensable Zinn

<div>The activist and author of A People&rsquo;s History of the United States records an in-depth and personal account of the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, students of Spelman College, a black liberal arts college for women, were drawn into the historic protests occurring across Atlanta. At the time, Howard Zinn was a history professor at Spelman and served as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Zinn mentored many of Spelman&rsquo;s students fighting for civil rights at the time, including Alice Walker and Marian Wright Edelman. Zinn&rsquo;s involvement with the Atlanta student movement and his closeness to Spelman&rsquo;s leading activists gave him an insider&rsquo;s view of the political and intellectual world of Spelman, Atlanta University, and the SNCC. He recorded his many insights and observations of the time in his Spelman College diary. Robert Cohen presents Zinn&rsquo;s diary in full along with a thorough historical overview and helpful contextual notes. It is a fascinating historical document of the free speech, academic freedom, and student rights battles that rocked Spelman and led to Zinn&rsquo;s dismissal from the college in 1963 for supporting the student movement.</div>

Alice Walker

Books By Alice Walker (21 Books)