1976: The Woman Warrior Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
Author/Editor: Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior is an autobiography, but it’s more than just an autobiography. She blends folktales with her family’s history in early twentieth century China and her experiences in California.
The Woman Warrior was named one of the most influential books of the 70’s by Time and won the National Book Critics Circle award. Over time, it’s come to be one of the most widely taught texts at the college level, perhaps not surprisingly given the multiple perspectives from which it can be viewed and given Kingston’s focus on constructing a workable identity—a task that is of particular interest during college when one begins to assess and experience what it means to step up and shape one’s adult identity.
