MAYA Angelou continues the candid chronicle of her life in this fifth volume of her autobiography which began with
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Random, 1970). In the early
’60s, Angelou worked at the university in
Ghana and became involved with the community of
Africans and black Americans. Students of
African history will find a wealth of information and penetrating impressions of the proud, optimistic new country. Students of
American history will learn first-hand of the opinions and feelings of black Americans who, living through the racial crisis of the ’60s, came to
Africa in search of their historical, spiritual and psychological home. Maya’s own journey is at the center of the narrative, however, and readers will appreciate the candor with which she relates her conflicts with some Ghanaians; her romance with an African
Muslim; her trip to
Germany, where she joins an American acting troupe and confronts her own prejudices; and her struggle to accept her son’s manly independence.