Maya Angelou was one of the most important American writers and poets of the second half of the 20th century. Angelou's seminal book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, tells the story of growing up in the prejudice-ridden American South. Left in the care of their grandmother with her brother, Maya faces incomprehensible rejection and racism from an early age, and at the age of eight, she is subjected to violence, the consequences of which she will be forced to live with for the rest of her life. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings has changed minds for two centuries and, with its wisdom, helps readers rethink their own lives.