'I know that not since the days of my childhood, when people in books were more real than the people one saw every day, have I found myself so moved' James Baldwin.Maya Angelou's five volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a Black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope and joy, achievement and celebration.In this first volume of her autobiography, Maya Angelou beautifully evokes her childhood with her grandmother in the Amercian south of the 1930s. She learns the power of the white folks at the other end of town and suffers the terrible trauma of rape by her mother's lover.MAYA ANGELOU'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY:I Know Why The Caged Bird SingsGather Together in My NameSingin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like ChristmasThe Heart of a WomanAll God's Children Need Travelling Shoes