I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

First published in 1969, this autobiography covers Maya Angelou's childhood and adolescence, from the store in Stamps, Arkansas, where she and her brother Bailey are sent to live with their grandmother, through a period in St. Louis and later years in California. She describes the manners and dangers of a segregated Southern town, a sexual assault and the silence that follows it, and the slow recovery of speech through literature and work. School, church, a brief time with her beautiful mother, and early jobs mark the later chapters. The book is a first-person narrative of a girl learning how to live and speak inside a racist order.

Quarter-bound in orange cloth, spine title blocked in silver, picture printed and blocked textured pink paper front and back covers.Plain orange endpapers. Plain slipcase.