Who is Bell Hooks?

Bell Hooks Popular Books

Bell Hooks Biography & Facts

Gloria Jean Watkins (September 25, 1952 – December 15, 2021), better known by her pen name bell hooks, was an American author and social activist who was Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College. She is best known for her writings on race, feminism, and class. The focus of hooks's writing was to explore the intersectionality of race, capitalism, gender, and what she described as their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and class domination. She published around 40 books, including works that ranged from essays and poetry to children's books. She published numerous scholarly articles, appeared in documentary films, and participated in public lectures. Her work addressed love, race, class, gender, art, history, sexuality, mass media, and feminism.A celebrated academic, hooks began her academic career in 1976 teaching English and ethnic studies at the University of Southern California. She later taught at several institutions including Stanford University, Yale University, and The City College of New York, before joining Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, in 2004, where she founded the bell hooks Institute in 2014. Her pen name was borrowed from her maternal great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks. Early life Gloria Jean Watkins was born on September 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville, a small, segregated town in Kentucky, to a working-class African-American family. Watkins was one of six children born to Rosa Bell Watkins (née Oldham) and Veodis Watkins. Her father worked as a janitor and her mother worked as a maid in the homes of white families. In her memoir Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood (1996), Watkins would write of her "struggle to create self and identity" while growing up in "a rich magical world of southern black culture that was sometimes paradisiacal and at other times terrifying."An avid reader (with poets William Wordsworth, Langston Hughes, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Gwendolyn Brooks among her favorites), Watkins was educated in racially segregated public schools, later moving to an integrated school in the late 1960s. She graduated from Hopkinsville High School before obtaining her BA in English from Stanford University in 1973, and her MA in English from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1976. During this time, Watkins was writing her book Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, which she began at the age of 19 (ca. 1971) and then published in 1981.In 1983, after several years of teaching and writing, she completed her doctorate in English at the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a dissertation on author Toni Morrison entitled "Keeping a Hold on Life: Reading Toni Morrison's Fiction". Teaching and writing She began her academic career in 1976 as an English professor and senior lecturer in ethnic studies at the University of Southern California. During her three years there, Golemics, a Los Angeles publisher, released her first published work, a chapbook of poems titled And There We Wept (1978), written under the name "bell hooks". She had adopted her maternal great-grandmother's name as her pen name because, as she later put it, her great-grandmother "was known for her snappy and bold tongue, which I greatly admired,". She also said she put the name in lowercase letters both to honor her great-grandmother and to convey that what is most important to focus upon is her works, not her personal qualities: the "substance of books, not who I am." About the unconventional lowercasing of her pen name, hooks added that, “When the feminist movement was at its zenith in the late ‘60s and early '70s, there was a lot of moving away from the idea of the person. It was: Let’s talk about the ideas behind the work, and the people matter less... It was kind of a gimmicky thing, but lots of feminist women were doing it.”In the early 1980s and 1990s, hooks taught at several post-secondary institutions, including the University of California, Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University, Yale (1985 to 1988, as assistant professor of African and Afro-American studies and English), Oberlin College (1988 to 1994, as associate professor of American literature and women's studies), and, beginning in 1994, as distinguished professor of English at City College of New York.South End Press published her first major work, Ain't I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism, in 1981, though she had written it years earlier while still an undergraduate. In the decades since its publication, Ain't I a Woman? has been recognized for its contribution to feminist thought, with Publishers Weekly in 1992 naming it "One of the twenty most influential women's books in the last 20 years." Writing in The New York Times in 2019, Min Jin Lee said that Ain't I a Woman "remains a radical and relevant work of political theory. hooks lays the groundwork of her feminist theory by giving historical evidence of the specific sexism that black female slaves endured and how that legacy affects black womanhood today." Ain't I a Woman? examines themes including the historical impact of sexism and racism on black women, devaluation of black womanhood, media roles and portrayal, the education system, the idea of a white-supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy and the marginalization of black women. At the same time, hooks became significant as a leftist and postmodern political thinker and cultural critic. She published more than 30 books, ranging in topics from black men, patriarchy, and masculinity to self-help; engaged pedagogy to personal memoirs; and sexuality (in regards to feminism and politics of aesthetics and visual culture). Reel to Real: race, sex, and class at the movies (1996) collects film essays, reviews, and interviews with film directors. In The New Yorker, Hua Hsu said these interviews displayed the facet of hooks's work that was "curious, empathetic, searching for comrades".In Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984), hooks develops a critique of white feminist racism in second-wave feminism, which she argued undermined the possibility of feminist solidarity across racial lines.As hooks argued, communication and literacy (the ability to read, write, and think critically) are necessary for the feminist movement because without them people may not grow to recognize gender inequalities in society.In 2002, hooks gave a commencement speech at Southwestern University. Eschewing the congratulatory mode of traditional commencement speeches, she spoke against what she saw as government-sanctioned violence and oppression, and admonished students who she believed went along with such practices. The Austin Chronicle reported that many in the audience booed the speech, though "several graduates passed over the provost to shake her hand or give her a hug."In 2004, she joined Berea College as Distinguished Professor in Residence. Her 2008 book, belonging: a culture of place, includes an interview with author Wendell Berry as well as a discussion of her move.... Discover the Bell Hooks popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Bell Hooks books.

Best Seller Bell Hooks Books of May 2022

: All About Love
4.5/5333 REVIEWSFamily & Relationships$12.99
A New York Times bestseller and enduring classic, All About Love is the acclaimed first volume in feminist icon bell hooks' "Love Song to the Nation" trilogy. All About Love reveals wh...

: Writing Beyond Race
0/50 REVIEWSLiterary Criticism$32.99
What are the conditions needed for our nation to bridge cultural and racial divides? By "writing beyond race," noted cultural critic bell hooks models the constructive ways scholars, activis...

: ¿Acaso no soy yo una mujer?
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$14.99
Esta es una de las primeras grandes obras de la escritora y activista bell hooks. Publicada originalmente en 1981, ha ido ganando reconocimiento como un trabajo influyente en el pensamiento ...

: Teaching Critical Thinking
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$44.99
In Teaching Critical Thinking, renowned cultural critic and progressive educator bell hooks addresses some of the most compelling issues facing teachers in and out of the classroom today.

: The Will to Change
4.5/582 REVIEWSSocial Science$12.99
Everyone needs to love and be loved—even men. But to know love, men must be able to look at the ways that patriarchal culture keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch wit...

: Tudo sobre o amor: novas perspectivas
0/50 REVIEWSPolitical Science$8.99
#1 New York Times bestselling author O que é o amor, afinal? Será esta uma pergunta tão subjetiva, tão opaca? Para bell hooks, quando pulverizamos seu significado, ficamos cada vez mais...

: Feminism Is for Everybody
4/510 REVIEWSSocial Science$31.99
What is feminism? In this short, accessible primer, bell hooks explores the nature of feminism and its positive promise to eliminate sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. With her cha...

: Sisters of the Yam
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$31.99
In Sisters of the Yam, bell hooks reflects on the ways in which the emotional health of black women has been and continues to be impacted by sexism and racism. Desiring to create a...

: Outlaw Culture
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$21.99
According to the Washington Post, no one who cares about contemporary African-American cultures can ignore bell hooks' electrifying feminist explorations. Targeting cultural icons as div...

: Feminist Theory
4.5/55 REVIEWSSocial Science$31.99
When Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center was first published in 1984, it was welcomed and praised by feminist thinkers who wanted a new vision. Even so, individual readers frequent...

: Rock My Soul
5/513 REVIEWSSocial Science$13.99
World-renowned scholar and visionary bell hooks takes an in-depth look at one of the most critical issues facing African Americans: a collective wounded self-esteem that has prevailed fro...

: Ain't I a Woman
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$34.99
A classic work of feminist scholarship, Ain't I a Woman has become a must-read for all those interested in the nature of black womanhood. Examining the impact of sexism on black women...

: Yearning
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$32.99
For bell hooks, the best cultural criticism sees no need to separate politics from the pleasure of reading. Yearning collects together some of hooks's classic and early pieces of cult...

: Where We Stand
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$44.99
Drawing on both her roots in Kentucky and her adventures with Manhattan Coop boards, Where We Stand is a successful black woman's reflection--personal, straight forward, and rigorously hones...

: Teoria feminista
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$6.99
Crítica e propositiva, bell hooks defende uma revolução feminista que transcenda reformas, com enfrentamento das ideologias do sexismo, do racismo e do capitalismo, entre outras. Defender...

: Homegrown
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$39.99
In Homegrown, cultural critics bell hooks and Amalia Mesa-Bains reflect on the innate solidarity between Black and Latino culture. Riffing on everything from home and family to multic...

: Appalachian Elegy
0/50 REVIEWSPoetry$20.99
Author, activist, feminist, teacher, and artist bell hooks is celebrated as one of the nation's leading intellectuals. Born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, hooks drew her unique pseudonym from th...

: Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope
0/50 REVIEWSPolitical Science$24.99
#1 New York Times bestselling author Ten years ago, bell hooks astonished readers with Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Now comes Teaching Community: A Pedagogy...

: Todo sobre el amor
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$6.99
Todo sobre el amor ofrece nuevas formas radicales de pensar sobre el amor al mostrar su interconexión en nuestra vida privada y pública. En once capítulos concisos, hooks explica cómo nu...

: Salvation
0/50 REVIEWSPsychology$10.99
“A manual for fixing our culture…In writing that is elegant and penetratingly simple, [hooks] gives voice to some things we may know in our hearts but need an interpreter like her to pro...

: Black Looks
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$32.99
In the critical essays collected in Black Looks, bell hooks interrogates old narratives and argues for alternative ways to look at blackness, black subjectivity, and whiteness. Her fo...

: Enseñar a transgredir
0/50 REVIEWSEducation$10.99
Escribe sobre un nuevo tipo de educación, la educación como práctica de la libertad. Enseñar a los estudiantes a "transgredir" los límites raciales, sexuales y de clase para lograr el r...

: Teaching Community
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$44.99
Ten years ago, bell hooks astonished readers with Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Now comes Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope - a powerful, visionary work ...

: Grump Groan Growl
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Issues$9.99
From legendary author and critic bell hooks and multi-Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka comes a fresh look at bad moods, perfect for fans of Grumpy Monkey and The Pout Pout Fish

: Alles über Liebe - Neue Sichtweisen
0/50 REVIEWSFamily & Relationships$19.99
»Wir brauchen eine Karte, die uns bei unserer Reise zur Liebe den Weg weist – und sie beginnt damit, dass wir wissen, was wir meinen, wenn wir von Liebe reden.«In ihrem provo...

: Feminizmus do vrecka
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$6.99
Popularizačná príručka o praxi a teórii feminizmu ponúka „iný pohľad“ na feminizmus. Na základe dlhoročnej skúsenosti ju na začiatku tohto tisícročia napísala charizmatick...

: We Real Cool
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$44.99
"When women get together and talk about men, the news is almost always bad news," writes bell hooks. "If the topic gets specific and the focus is on black men, the news is even worse."...

: Olhares negros
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$6.99
Na coletânea de ensaios críticos reunidos em Olhares negros, bell hooks interroga narrativas e discute a respeito de formas alternativas de observar a negritude, a subjetividade das pessoa...

: Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center
0/50 REVIEWSPolitical Science$12.99
When Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center was first published in 1984, it was welcomed and praised by feminist thinkers who wanted a new vision. Even so, individual readers frequently foun...

: When Angels Speak of Love
4.5/55 REVIEWSPoetry$9.99
Icon of women's movement and author of over twenty books, including a narrative series on love, bell hooks reminds us of the good and bad moments we spend in love through her inspiring po...

: Teaching To Transgress
0/50 REVIEWSEducation$44.99
First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

: Reel to Real
0/50 REVIEWSFilm$26.99
Movies matter – that is the message of Reel to Real, bell hooks’ classic collection of essays on film. They matter on a personal level, providing us with unforgettable moments, eve...

: Ensinando pensamento crítico
0/50 REVIEWSEducation$6.99
"A existência humana é, porque se fez perguntando, a raiz da transformação do mundo. Há uma radicalidade na existência, que é a radicalidade do ato de perguntar." É com esta ...

: Box Biblioteca Essencial do Feminismo
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$24.99
Quatro importantes livros do feminismo reunidos pela primeira vez.Esta Biblioteca Essencial do Feminismo apresenta quatro livros que reúnem de fato o que há de essencial, fundamental...

: Teaching To Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (Harvest in Translation) - bell hooks
0/50 REVIEWSTransportation$29.99
In Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks–writer, teacher, and insurgent black intellectual–writes about a new kind of education, educations as the practice of freedom. Teaching students to ...

: Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics
0/50 REVIEWSPolitical Science$14.99
What is feminism? In this short, accessible primer, bell hooks explores the nature of feminism and its positive promise to eliminate sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. With her cha...

: Belonging
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$32.99
What does it mean to call a place home? Who is allowed to become a member of a community? When can we say that we truly belong? These are some of the questions of place and belon...

: Lieben lernen - Alles über Verbundenheit
0/50 REVIEWSFamily & Relationships$19.99
»Frauen, die sich für die Liebe entscheiden, müssen klug, waghalsig und mutig sein.«Ein großartiges Plädoyer für die Macht der LiebeLiebe(n) geht uns alle an. ...

: Skin Again
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Issues$12.99
From legendary author and critic bell hooks and multi-Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka comes a new way to talk about race and identity that will appeal to parents of the youngest readers....

: Breaking Bread
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$39.99
In this provocative and captivating dialogue, bell hooks and Cornel West come together to discuss the dilemmas, contradictions, and joys of Black intellectual life. The two friends and comra...

: Tudo sobre o amor
0/50 REVIEWSFamily & Relationships$8.99
O que é o amor, afinal? Será esta uma pergunta tão subjetiva, tão opaca? Para bell hooks, quando pulverizamos seu significado, ficamos cada vez mais distantes de entendê-lo. Neste livro...

: Uncut Funk
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$39.99
In an awesome meeting of minds, cultural theorists Stuart Hall and bell hooks met for a series of wide-ranging conversations on what Hall sums up as "life, love, death, sex." From the trivia...

: remembered rapture
0/50 REVIEWSBiographies & Memoirs$11.99
In Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work, award-winning author and renowned academic “bell hooks reveals the heart of her writing life and the process through which she has come...

: Respondona
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$7.99
Tras la buena acogida de Todo sobre el amor de bell hooks, una de las voces del feminismo más relevantes de la actualidad, publicamos Respondona, un recorrido intelectual por su larga traye...

: Il femminismo è per tutti
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$9.99
Che cos'è il femminismo? In questo limpido e agile manuale, pensato per essere letto da chiunque, bell hooks esplora la natura del femminismo e la sua concreta promessa di porre fine al ses...

: Communion
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$1.99
“When truth teller and careful writer bell hooks offers a book, I like to be standing at the bookshop when it opens.” –Maya AngelouRenowned visionary bell hooks explored th...

: Erguer a voz
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$6.99
"Enfrentar o medo de se manifestar e, com coragem, confrontar o poder, continua a ser uma agenda vital para todas as mulheres", escreve bell hooks no prefácio à nova edição de Er...

: Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
0/50 REVIEWSPolitical Science$24.99
A classic work of feminist scholarship, Ain't I a Woman has become a must-read for all those interested in the nature of black womanhood. Examining the impact of sexism on black women during...

: Talking Back
0/50 REVIEWSSocial Science$32.99
In childhood, bell hooks was taught that "talking back" meant speaking as an equal to an authority figure and daring to disagree and/or have an opinion. In this collection of personal and th...

: Ensenyar pensament crític
0/50 REVIEWSEducation$10.99
La recerca del pensament lliure és una activitat constant. A Ensenyar pensament crític, hooks considera l'aprenentatge com el primer espai per defensar la diversitat, la igualtat i, en...

Best Seller Bell Hooks Audio Books of May 2022

: The Will to Change (Unabridged)
11 February 2020Nonfiction$12.99
Everyone needs to love and be loved—even men. But to know love, men must be able to look at the ways that patriarchal culture keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch wit...

: Alles über Liebe – Neue Sichtweisen (ungekürzt)
20 July 2021Nonfiction$14.99
Wie wir lieben sollten – der feministische und antirassistische Klassiker erstmals in deutscher Übersetzung "Für viele ist Liebe nichts als ein statisches Wort – dabei könnten wir al...

: Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics
01 January 2018Nonfiction$16.99
A genuine feminist politics always brings us from bondage to freedom, from lovelessness to loving….There can be no love without justice.—from the chapter “To Love Again: The Heart of F...

: Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
12 March 2019Nonfiction$16.99
A classic work of feminist scholarship, Ain't I a Woman has become a must–read for all those interested in the nature of black womanhood. Examining the impact of sexism on black wom...

: Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
01 January 2018Nonfiction$16.99
In Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks–writer, teacher, and insurgent black intellectual–writes about a new kind of education, educations as the practice of freedom. Teaching students to ...

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Bell Hooks Biography & Facts

Best Seller Bell Hooks Books of May 2022

All About Love

Writing Beyond Race

¿Acaso no soy yo una mujer?

Teaching Critical Thinking

The Will to Change

Tudo sobre o amor: novas perspectivas

Feminism Is for Everybody

Sisters of the Yam

Outlaw Culture

Feminist Theory

Rock My Soul

Ain't I a Woman

Yearning

Where We Stand

Teoria feminista

Homegrown

Appalachian Elegy

Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope

Todo sobre el amor

Salvation

Black Looks

Enseñar a transgredir

Teaching Community

Grump Groan Growl

Alles über Liebe - Neue Sichtweisen

Feminizmus do vrecka

We Real Cool

Olhares negros

Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center

When Angels Speak of Love

Teaching To Transgress

Reel to Real

Ensinando pensamento crítico

Box Biblioteca Essencial do Feminismo

Teaching To Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (Harvest in Translation) - bell hooks

Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

Belonging

Lieben lernen - Alles über Verbundenheit

Skin Again

Breaking Bread

Tudo sobre o amor

Uncut Funk

remembered rapture

Respondona

Il femminismo è per tutti

Communion

Erguer a voz

Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism

Talking Back

Ensenyar pensament crític

Best Seller Bell Hooks Audio Books of May 2022

The Will to Change (Unabridged)

Alles über Liebe – Neue Sichtweisen (ungekürzt)

Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism

Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom