bell hooks books

bell hooks (1952-2021) was an American author, professor, and social critic known for groundbreaking works on race, gender, class, and love including Ain't I a Woman and All About Love.

Anthologies

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Writing Women’s Lives 1994 Buy
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall 1998 Buy
Let Nobody Turn Us Around 1999 Buy
Walk Till the Dogs Get Mean:Meditations on the Forbidden from Contemporary Appalachia 2015 Buy

Children’s Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Happy to Be Nappy 1999 Buy
Homemade Love 2002 Buy
Be Boy Buzz 2002 Buy
Skin Again 2004 Buy
Grump Groan Growl 2008 Buy

Collections

Title Published Buy on Amazon
and there we wept 1978 N/A
When Angels Speak of Love 2005 Buy
Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place 2012 Buy

Love Trilogy Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
All About Love: New Visions 1999 Buy
Love Renewed 2013 N/A
Salvation: Black People and Love 2001 Buy
Communion: The Female Search for Love 2002 Buy
Comunhão: A busca das mulheres pelo amor 2002 N/A

Non-Fiction

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism 1981 Buy
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center 1984 Buy
Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black 1989 Buy
Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics 1990 Buy
Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life 1991 Buy
Black Looks: Race and Representation 1992 Buy
Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery 1993 Buy
Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations 1994 Buy
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom 1994 Buy
Killing Rage: Ending Racism 1995 Buy
Art on My Mind: Visual Politics 1995 Buy
Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood 1996 Buy
Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies 1996 Buy
Wounds of Passion: A Writing Life 1997 Buy
remembered rapture: the writer at work 1999 Buy
Where We Stand: Class Matters 2000 Buy
Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics 2000 Buy
Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope 2002 Buy
Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem 2002 Buy
We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity 2003 Buy
The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love 2003 Buy
Belonging: A Culture of Place 2004 Buy
Homegrown: Engaged Cultural Criticism 2006 Buy
Soul Sister: Women, Friendship, And Fulfillment 2007 Buy
Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom 2007 Buy
Writing Beyond Race: Living Theory and Practice 2012 Buy
Uncut Funk: A Contemplative Dialogue 2017 Buy

bell hooks (born Gloria Jean Watkins, 1952-2021) was one of the most influential American intellectuals of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Her work examined how race, gender, and class intersect in American life, beginning with Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (1981) and continuing through more than 40 books of non-fiction, poetry, and children’s literature.

Her Love Trilogy — All About Love, Salvation, and Communion — reached a new generation of readers in the 2010s and 2020s as social media rediscovered her accessible writing about love, connection, and healing. hooks was also a dedicated educator whose Teaching to Transgress (1994) shaped how teachers think about classrooms as spaces for liberation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has bell hooks written?

bell hooks has written 44 books across five series.

What was bell hooks's first book?

bell hooks’s first book is and there we wept, published in 1978.

Why is bell hooks' name lowercase?

bell hooks chose to spell her pen name in all lowercase letters to shift attention away from herself and toward her ideas. The name itself is a tribute to her great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks.

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