bell hooks was an activist, author, feminist, poet, professor, and scholar, and from reading accounts from those who were blessed to know bell hooks personally, a phemeonal family member, friend and teacher. Trying to encompass the work of bell hooks in a few sentences is a futile task. Dr. Imani Perry stated, “I think we can’t overstate her influence.” 

Dr. Cornel West, in an interview with Marc Lamont Hill, described hooks’ work as “unprecedented.” “She was an intellectual giant, a spiritual giant for piety, for freedom,” West said.

While I was introduced to bell hooks’ work as an undergrad, it was in graduate school when I first read Breaking Bread: insurgent Black intellectual life by bell hooks and Dr. Cornel West, that the work of bell hooks really resonated with me. Being introduced to prolific thinkers like hooks (and Dr. West)  was one of the many joys of being a student of Dr. Jerry Watts, who encouraged me to pursue librarianship. 

I encourage all, whether this is your first engagement with the works of bell hooks or coming back to works and words that have left an enduring impact, to review PUL’s holdings, including items from Special Collections highlighting visits from bell hooks to the Princeton campus. For suggestions or tips for discovering the works of bell hooks please feel free to contact Sara A. Howard, librarian for gender & sexuality studies. 

hooks, b. (2012). Appalachian elegy : poetry and place. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.

hooks, b. (2019). Black looks: Race and representation. Routledge.. Black looks : race and representation. 

hooks, b. (2006). Outlaw culture: Resisting representations. Routledge.. Outlaw culture : resisting representation

hooks, b., & West, C. (1991). Breaking bread : insurgent Black intellectual life. Boston, Mass.: South End Press

hooks, b. (1981). Ain't I a woman : Black women and feminism. Boston: South End Press

hooks, b. (2002). Communion : the female search for love. New York: William Morrow

hooks, b. (2017). Skin again. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Published on Feb. 9, 2022

Written by Sara Howard, Librarian for Gender & Sexuality Studies and Student Engagement

Media Contact: Barbara Valenza, Director of Library Communications