bell hooks: The Last Interview

And Other Conversations

”I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else’s whim or to someone else’s ignorance.”
—bell hooks

bell hooks was a prolific, trailblazing author, feminist, social activist, cultural critic, and professor. Born Gloria Jean Watkins, bell used her pen name to center attention on her ideas and to honor her courageous great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks.

hooks’s unflinching dedication to her work carved deep grooves for the feminist and anti-racist movements. In this collection of interviews, stretching from early in her career until her last interview, she discusses feminism, the complexity of rap music and masculinity, her relationship to Buddhism, the “politic of domination,” sexuality, and love and the importance of communication across cultural borders. Whether she was sparking controversy on campuses or facing criticism from contemporaries, hooks relentlessly challenged herself and those around her, inserted herself into the tensions of the cultural moment, and anchored herself with love.

Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by her pen name bell hooks, was a social activist, cultural critic, femenist theorist, and an American author and social activist. Celebrated as one of our nation’s leading public intellectual by The Atlantic Monthly, as well as one of Utne Reader‘s 100 Visionaries Who Could Change Your Life, she was a charismatic speaker who divided her time among teaching, writing, and lecturing around the world. Sept 25, 1952 – Dec 15, 2021