Recommendations based on Letter to My Daughterby Maya Angelou

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

    by Maya Angelou
    Autobiographical account of a Black woman's journey to find her identity in a prejudiced society.

    Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters. Here is a book as ... (Goodreads)

  2. The Heart of a Woman

    by Maya Angelou
    A lyrical memoir of a woman's struggle for independence and self-fulfillment.

    Maya Angelou has fascinated, moved, and inspired countless readers with the first three volumes of her autobiography, one of the most remarkable personal narratives of our age. Now, in her fourth ... (Goodreads)

  3. The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother

    by James McBride
    A memoir of a black man's journey to understand his white mother's past and how it shaped his own identity.

    Touches readers of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son. Who is Ruth McBride Jordan? A ... (Goodreads)

  4. Gather Together in My Name

    by Maya Angelou
    A young woman's compelling memoir of her struggles for independence and identity.

    The book opens in the years following World War II. Angelou, still known as "Marguerite," or "Rita," has just given birth to her son Clyde, and is living with her mother and stepfather in San ... (Wikipedia)

  5. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

    by Michelle Alexander
    Exploring the roots and reality of systemic racism in the U.S. criminal justice system.

    "Jarvious Cotton's great-great-grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Klu Klux Klan for attempting to vote. His grandfather was prevented from voting ... (Goodreads)

  6. Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together

    by Ron Hall
    A story of unlikely friendship and redemption, set in the backdrop of racial and economic divides.

    A dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery. An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel. A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream. A story so ... (Goodreads)

  7. Sh*t My Dad Says

    by Justin Halpern
    Collection of humorous musings and witticisms from an elderly father.

    After being dumped by his longtime girlfriend, twenty-eight-year-old Justin Halpern found himself living at home with his seventy-three-year-old dad. Sam Halpern, who is "like Socrates, but angrier, ... (Goodreads)

  8. Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

    by Elizabeth Gilbert
    A candid exploration of marriage, examining its ups and downs with a humorous and skeptical eye.

    At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love , Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met. ... (Goodreads)

  9. Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan

    by Greg Mortenson
    True story of a man's determination to promote peace and education in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    From the author of the #1 bestseller Three Cups of Tea , the continuing story of this determined humanitarian's efforts to promote peace through education. In this dramatic first-person narrative, ... (Goodreads)

  10. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

    by Isabel Wilkerson
    An exploration of the life-changing journeys of the millions of African-Americans who migrated from the South to the North, Midwest, and West from 1915 to 1970.

    In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black ... (Goodreads)

  11. Between the World and Me

    by Ta-Nehisi Coates
    A letter to his son, exploring the realities of racism in America.

    “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American ... (Goodreads)

  12. Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back

    by Todd Burpo
    A young boy's spiritual journey of dying and visiting Heaven, and the aftermath of his visions.

    Unglaublich oder erstaunlich? Urteilen Sie selbst: Colton ist vier Jahre alt, als er lebensgefährlich erkrankt und operiert werden muss. Er überlebt um Haaresbreite. Später erzählt er seinen Eltern, ... (Goodreads)

  13. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families

    by Philip Gourevitch
    True story of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and its aftermath, told through the eyes of survivors.

    In April of 1994, the government of Rwanda called on everyone in the Hutu majority to kill everyone in the Tutsi minority. Over the next three months, 800,000 Tutsis were murdered in the most ... (Goodreads)

  14. The Autobiography of Malcolm X

    by Malcolm X
    A gripping account of one man's transformation from criminal to civil rights leader.

    Alternate cover for ISBN 9780345350688 Through a life of passion and struggle, Malcolm X became one of the most influential figures of the 20th Century. In this riveting account, he tells of his ... (Goodreads)

  15. Who Moved My Cheese?

    by Spencer Johnson
    A parable about navigating change through the eyes of four characters.

    It is the amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy. Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life, for ... (Goodreads)

  16. Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes

    by Gordon B. Hinckley
    An exploration of morality and values, advocating for the restoration of ethics in modern life.

    In this national bestseller, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley, has created a classic look at the values that can change our world—and how to stand ... (Barnes & Noble)

  17. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza

    by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
    Exploration of the hybrid identity of Chicana women, navigating between two cultures.

    Anzaldua, a Chicana native of Texas, explores in prose and poetry the murky, precarious existence of those living on the frontier between cultures and languages. Writing in a lyrical mixture of ... (Goodreads)

  18. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

    by Miguel Ruiz
    A guide to transforming one's life by adopting four simple agreements.

    In The Four Agreements , don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a ... (Goodreads)

  19. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time

    by Greg Mortenson
    A man's mission to build schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan to promote peace.

    The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual’s ... (Goodreads)

  20. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

    by Barack Obama
    An exploration of the Obama family history, tracing the threads of identity and race.

    In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New ... (Goodreads)

  21. Zeitoun

    by Dave Eggers
    A man's struggle to survive and reunite with his family amidst the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

    Abdulrahman Zeitoun grew up in Syria. After a few years of apprenticeship in the Syrian port city of Jableh , Zeitoun spent twenty years working at sea as a muscleman, engineer and fisherman. During ... (Wikipedia)

  22. When Rabbit Howls

    by Truddi Chase
    A true story of a woman with dissociative identity disorder, detailing her 92 personalities and the trauma that caused them.

    Truddi Chase began therapy to discover why she suffered from blackouts. What surfaced was terrifying: she was inhabited by 'the Troops'-92 individual personalities. This groundbreaking true story is ... (Goodreads)

  23. We Should All Be Feminists

    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    A call to action for an inclusive, gender-equal society through an examination of feminism.

    What does “feminism” mean today? That is the question at the heart of We Should All Be Feminists , a personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name—by ... (Goodreads)

  24. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

    by Tracy Kidder
    A story of one man's journey to fight poverty, illness, and injustice around the world.

    At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, ... (Goodreads)

  25. If You Ask Me

    by Betty White
    Memoir of a beloved actress, full of stories and humor.

    It-girl Betty White delivers a hilarious, slyly profound take on love, life, celebrity, and everything in between. Drawing from a lifetime of lessons learned, seven-time Emmy winner Betty White's wit ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Gifts of Imperfection

    by Brené Brown
    A guide to self-acceptance, embracing imperfections and finding courage, compassion and connection.

    In this groundbreaking New York Times best seller, Dr. Brené Brown, a research professor and thought leader on vulnerability , courage , worthiness , and shame , shares ten guideposts on the power of ... (Goodreads)

  27. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

    by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
    A business novel that follows a manufacturing plant's attempts to optimize production.

    Written in a fast-paced thriller style,, The Goal, is the gripping novel which is transforming management thinking throughout the Western world. Alex Rogo is a harried plant manager working ever more ... (Goodreads)

  28. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

    by Frederick Douglass
    Memoir of a former slave's journey to freedom and his struggle for human rights.

    Born a slave circa1818 (slaves weren't told when they were born) on a plantation in Maryland, Douglass taught himself to read and write. In 1845, seven years after escaping to the North, he published ... (Goodreads)

  29. Gift from the Sea

    by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
    Exploring the depths of the ocean, seeking solace and wisdom.

    In this inimitable, beloved classic—graceful, lucid and lyrical—Anne Morrow Lindbergh shares her meditations on youth and age; love and marriage; peace, solitude and contentment as she set them down ... (Goodreads)

  30. A Piece of Cake

    by Cupcake Brown
    A woman's raw story of resilience and survival in the face of hardship and trauma.

    The story begins in January 1975 when the female protagonist gives a short account of why her mother named her Cupcake Brown. Brown's mother died in 1976, when Brown was age 11. Since her biological ... (Wikipedia)