“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.
What People Are Saying
“Angela Davis has spent more than 50 years working for social justice. This summer, society started to catch up.” Ava Duvernay, Vanity Fair
“An activist. An author. A scholar. An abolitionist. A legend.” Ibram X. Kendi
“Angela Davis: An Autobiography is riveting; as fresh and relevant today as it was almost 50 years ago. The words fire off the page with humour, anger and eloquence.” The Guardian
“Before the world knew what intersectionality was, the scholar, writer and activist was living it, arguing not just for Black liberation, but for the rights of women and queer and transgender people as well.” New York Times
"Now, nearly fifty years after its first publication in 1974, Davis has brought forth a new edition of Angela Davis: An Autobiography, a landmark text of left-wing Black politics.... The power of An Autobiography lies in Davis’s understanding of both the tremendous forces assembled against her generation’s dreams of a new society and the ideas and actions of her cohort that stalled their forward momentum. She distills how male supremacy undermined the leadership of Black women and introduced authoritarianism and intolerance into more general debates over the politics, strategy, and tactics of the movement. Today, the struggle for Black liberation has taken new form and exists in an altogether different context, but the endless assault on Black life continues to make that pursuit necessary." Keeanga-Yahmatta Taylor, New York Review of Books
“If anyone is qualified to make an assessment on the current situation, it is Angela Davis. She has spent five decades as an intellectual campaigning for racial justice, yet the causes she has pursued – prison reform, defunding the police, restructuring the bail system – had, until recently, been considered too radical for mainstream political thinking.” The Guardian
“As an iconic educator, scholar, and leader in the civil rights movement, Angela Davis is an obligatory add to your list of must-read black authors.” O Magazine
“Angela Davis: An Autobiography continues to fulfill that goal as the rare book that even almost 50 years later feels timely and relevant. Maybe too relevant, considering how little has changed in the interim.” Los Angeles Times
“This new edition of the autobiography is meant to bring Davis and her story to a new generation of readers, who can still identify with her experiences. Still a key work in the areas of prison abolition and feminism, this reissue of a classic autobiography deserves a place of honor in any collection.” Library Journal