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Gathering Blossoms Under Fire
- The Journals of Alice Walker
- Narrated by: Aunjanue Ellis, Alice Walker, Janina Edwards
- Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins
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Publisher's Summary
From National Book Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker, and edited by critic and writer Valerie Boyd, comes an unprecedented compilation of Walker’s 50 years of journals drawing an intimate portrait of her development over five decades as an artist, human rights and women’s activist, and intellectual.
For the first time, the edited journals of Alice Walker are gathered together to reflect the complex, passionate, talented, and acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winner of The Color Purple. She intimately explores her thoughts and feelings as a woman, a writer, an African American, a wife, a daughter, a mother, a lover, a sister, a friend, a citizen of the world.
In an unvarnished and singular voice, she explores an astonishing array of events: marching in Mississippi with other foot soldiers of the civil rights movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr.; her marriage to a Jewish lawyer, defying laws that barred interracial marriage in the 1960s South; an early miscarriage; writing her first novel; the trials and triumphs of the women’s movement; erotic encounters and enduring relationships; the ancestral visits that led her to write The Color Purple; winning the Pulitzer Prize; being admired and maligned, sometimes in equal measure, for her work and her activism; and burying her mother. A powerful blend of Walker’s personal life with political events, this revealing collection offers rare insight into a literary legend.
What listeners say about Gathering Blossoms Under Fire
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- LG
- 06-04-22
educational, raw and deliberate
Loved it for sure. Such detailed accounts of feelings, sights and deep thinking. This magnificent piece made me want to read and know Alice Walker even more.
1 person found this helpful
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- amazonluver
- 04-30-22
A must-read for any creative artist!!
Such a bold and courageous look into the life of a curious and deeply feeling person.
1 person found this helpful
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- Maitefa Angaza
- 06-22-22
I’m SO grateful for this precious experience!
These journals are such a gift! Although dedicated to friends, I hope Alice knows how significantly she’s added to her considerable contributions to us all with this publication. It is deeply nurturing and wise, candid and brave, surprising and entertaining. This is an offering and a galvanizing work-ethic example for writers. It’s also an offering for all of us seeking to comprehend, not resist, life and to live it on our own terms,
We are inspired to truly value love and kindness, to appreciate and express gratitude for nature’s beauty. Not everyone can live the greater parts of their lives surrounded by great beauty as Alice has. But many can spend time now and then sitting in a park or gazing at the sky. Taking in the spiritual and physical beauty of our beloveds, be they people, pets or plants beings pleasure. And of course, prioritizing the enrichment that the arts bring to our lives.
Thank you Alice for so many lessons!
Maitefa Angaza
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- Joi Marsh
- 06-07-22
Lovely life review
I literally want to hear it all again. Mrs.Walker has definitely lived and loved.