100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ

Overnight NZ-wide delivery on in-stock orders πŸš€

Ain't I a Woman

4.51 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 19,629 ratings, 1,847 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Ain't I a Woman explores the intersection of race, gender, and class, analysing the historical impact of sexism on black women from slavery to modern times. Bell Hooks examines the marginalisation black women face within both the feminist movement and black activism, challenging antifeminist views and advocating for a feminist dialogue that fully recognises race, class, and gender.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$4499
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 3-4 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This essential text is ideal for readers interested in feminist theory, social justice, race studies, and the history of black women's activism.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A provocative and inspiring book on the culture and politics of black women's rights

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A study of the impact of sexism on black women during slavery, the historic devaluation of black womanhood, sexism among black men, racism within the women's movement, and the black woman's involvement with feminism.

Hooks refutes the antifeminist claim that black women have no need for an autonomous women's movement. She pushes feminist dialogue to new limits by claiming that all progressive struggles are significant only when they take place within a broadly defined feminist movement which takes as its starting point the immutable facts of race, class, and gender.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised as a fiery and visionary critique, the book delivers merciless criticism of both feminism and black activism for overlooking black women's rights. The New Statesman calls it provocative and inspiring, while Publishers Weekly ranks it among the twenty most influential women's books of the past two decades.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780861043798

Publisher: Pluto Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 20 January 1987

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Pluto Press

Audience: Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Width: 135.0mm

Height: 215.0mm

Weight: 282g

Pages: 208

About the Author

bell hooks is the author of numerous critically acclaimed and influential books on the politics of race, gender, class, and culture. She is the author of several other books, including Feminist Theory (Pluto Press 2000), Sisters of the Yam, Black Looks, Yearning, Talking Back, and Breaking Bread (with Cornel West). She is currently Professor of English at City College, City University of New York.

Also by bell hooks

View all
  • All About Love
    All About Love, a New York Times bestseller and enduring classic, presents an in-depth exploration of the very concept of love. In this critically acclaimed first volume of bell hooks' "Love Song to the Nation" trilogy, the renowned scholar, cultural critic, and feminist pioneers a journey toward understanding and redefining love in modern society. This book is a heartfelt narrative...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3299
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Will to Change
    In The Will to Change, celebrated cultural critic and feminist theorist bell hooks offers a profound and compassionate examination of masculinity and its impact on society. Delving deep into the emotional lives of men, hooks explores the powerful ways in which patriarchy harms men as much as it does women. Through compelling storytelling and critical analysis, she challenges men to...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Rock My Soul
    Breaking through a wall of collective denial to tell the sobering truth that crippling low self-esteem has reached epidemic proportions among black people, hooks examines and identifies the barriers β€” political and cultural β€” that keep black people from emotional well-being. With her characteristically keen insight and practical wisdom, she discusses mental health as the new revolutionary frontier and, more...
    Paperback
    $3300
    Elsewhere:
    $3599
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Communion
    β€œWhen truth teller and careful writer bell hooks offers a book, I like to be standing at the bookshop when it opens.” –Maya Angelou Renowned visionary bell hooks explored the meaning of love in American culture with the critically acclaimed bestseller All About Love: New Visions. She continued her national dialogue with the bestselling Salvation: Black People and Love. Now...
    Paperback
    $3400
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    Backorder
    Ships mid August
  • When Angels Speak of Love
    Feminist icon bell hooks reminds us of the full spectrum of feeling we spend in love through her inspiring collection of love poetry, with a new introduction by Cole Arthur Riley, author of Black Liturgies. Written from the heart, When Angels Speak of Love is a book of fifty love poems by bell hooks, one of our most beloved public...
    Paperback
    $3499
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Salvation
    β€œA manual for fixing our culture... In writing that is elegant and penetratingly simple, [hooks] gives voice to some things we may know in our hearts but need an interpreter like her to process.”—Black Issues Book Review New York Times bestselling author, acclaimed visionary and cultural critic bell hooks continues her exploration of the meaning of love in contemporary American...
    Paperback
    $5100
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Bone Black
    One of bell hooks' foundational works introduced to the UK for the first time. With the emotion of poetry, the narrative of a novel, and the truth of experience, bell hooks weaves a girlhood memoir you won't be able to put downβ€”or forget. Bone Black takes us into the cave of self-creation' Gloria Steinem. Stitching together the threads of her...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • All About Love: The Deluxe Collector's Edition
    Now available in a special hardcover Deluxe Collector’s Edition featuring beautiful new packaging, including cloth over board one-piece case with gifty trim, case stamping with red foil, red-coloured endpapers, red sprayed edges, and sewn-in red ribbon bookmark! A New York Times bestseller and enduring classic, All About Love is the acclaimed first volume in feminist icon bell hooks' "Love Song...
    Hardback
    $4500
    Elsewhere:
    $5500
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Skin Again
    The skin I'm in is just a covering. It cannot tell my story. The skin I'm in is just a covering. If you want to know who I am, you have got to come inside and open your heart way wide. Celebrating all that makes us unique and different, Skin Again offers new ways to talk about race and identity....
    Hardback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Art on My Mind
    A rich, thought-provoking collection of essays, critiques and interviews from the influential author of Ain't I a Woman and All About Love. 'There must be a revolution in the way we see, the way we look.' In a collection of essays, critiques and interviews, bell hooks responds to the ongoing dialogues about producing, exhibiting and criticising art and aesthetics in...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Feminism is for Everybody
    bell hooks is the internationally renowned author of many influential books on politics of race, gender, class and culture. This, her latest book, is a basic guide to feminism, a passionate argument that lends immediacy to the traditional concerns of feminist theory by rooting them in everyday lived experience. Designed to be read by men and women alike, "Feminism is...
    Paperback
    $4499
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Feminist Theory
    In this updated text of sexual politics, bell hooks argues that the contemporary feminist movement must establish a new direction for the future. A leading cultural critic, she contends that feminism has not succeeded in creating a mass movement against sexism because the foundation of the women's movement has not fully accounted for the complexity and diversity of female experience....
    Paperback
    $5999
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks

More from Education & Reference

View all
  • Revenge of the Tipping Point
    Twenty-five years after the publication of his groundbreaking first book, Malcolm Gladwell returns with a brand new volume that reframes the lessons of The Tipping Point in a startling and revealing light. What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do elite universities care so much about sports? What is...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Body Keeps the Score
    The Body Keeps the Score by Dr Bessel van der Kolk is a compelling and compassionate exploration of the deep-seated impact of trauma on the human body and mind. This groundbreaking work delves into the complex causes of trauma and paints a vivid picture of the revolutionary treatments that are enabling countless individuals to reclaim their lives filled with purpose...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    The Age Code
    What if the food you eat could rewind your biological clock? 'Clear and compelling' β€” Chris van Tulleken 'Really interesting and insightful' β€” Joe Wicks 'Fascinating' β€” Tim Spector From the rising incidence of cancer in the under-50s to increased infertility rates, there are signs everywhere that growing numbers of us are ageing too quickly. Why? Many believe there’s one...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Signed Copy
    New Release
    "What Were You Thinking!?"
    Everything parents need to know about their baby, child or teen's developing brain to raise resilient, emotional intelligent kids, by globally renowned neuroscience educator Nathan Wallis. 'What were you thinking!?'If you've ever asked this in despair while watching a toddler melt down, a tween push boundaries or a teenager make a truly terrible decision, this book is for you.InΒ "What Were...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    One Last Question, Prime Minister
    From Muldoon to Luxon, untold stories from the House of Parliament Barry Soper has spent close to five decades questioning New Zealand's prime ministers.From the imposing, larger-than-life characters of Rob Muldoon and David Lange, to the golden age of Helen Clark and John Key, and the post-Covid era of Jacinda Ardern and the 'Chrises', Soper's insight and nose for a...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Regime Change
    From the two reporters who have covered him more closely than perhaps anyone else over the past decade comes this definitive portrait of Donald Trump in the White House and the first year of his second presidency. Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented reporting from deep within the administration’s most closely guarded rooms, Regime Change takes the reader into...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $4299
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    2027 Witch's Diary - Southern Hemisphere
    From the bestselling authors of Spellcasting, which has now sold over 250,000 copies worldwide, comes the essential witchy journal to plan your days, harness magick, and connect with higher powers. Features include: 8" x 6" (8" x 12" open) Beautiful glossy gold gatefold cover Compact size, perfect to carry in your bag and keep on you throughout the day 12-month...
    Paperback
    $1999
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Signed Copy
    Go Hard or Go Home
    From the front bench to rock bottom:Β Go Hard or Go HomeΒ is Kiri Allan's fearless memoir of ambition, disruption and survival in NZ politics and beyond. Kiri Allan's six-year political career spanned some of the most challenging times in recent history. Events a government might encounter once in a generation stacked up: a terrorist attack, a volcanic eruption, destructive and deadly...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    Pre-order
    Out 4 Aug 2026
  • Roadmap to Property Success
    Ready to ditch the 9-to-5 and build lasting wealth through property? In Roadmap to Property Success, seasoned investor and coach Steve Goodey shares the exact strategies that helped him – and thousands of Kiwis – build sustainable property portfolios from scratch. With real-life lessons, hard-won wisdom, and zero sugar-coating, this is your no-BS guide to property investing in New Zealand....
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Suicidal Empathy
    The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad unleashes a blistering critique...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Man's Search For Meaning
    Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a profound, thought-provoking memoir and psychological exploration that delves into the harrowing experiences of life in Nazi concentration camps, intertwined with the author’s groundbreaking theories on existential psychology. The book is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, offering a beacon of hope and a roadmap for finding purpose...
    Paperback
    $1800
    Elsewhere:
    $2100
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • How Will I Ever Get Through This?
    'Dr Lucy's unpacking of the grief that comes with living losses was a lightbulb moment for me.' Ellidy Pullin 'The best work I know on positive psychology and grief is Lucy Hone's.' Martin Seligman 'Lucy's insights are practical, wise, and deeply human - they stay with you long after you read them.' Chelsea Pottenger From bestselling author and TED speaker...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.