A Song Flung Up to Heaven

By: Maya Angelou

Narrated by: Maya Angelou

The culmination of a unique achievement in modern American literature: the six volumes of autobiography that began more than thirty years ago with the appearance of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

A Song Flung Up to Heaven opens as Maya Angelou returns from Africa to the United States to work with Malcolm X. But first she has to journey to California to be reunited with her mother and brother. No sooner does she arrive there than she learns that Malcolm X has been assassinated.

Devastated, she tries to put her life back together, working on the stage in local theaters and even conducting a door-to-door survey in Watts. Then Watts explodes in violence, a riot she describes firsthand.

Subsequently, on a trip to New York, she meets Martin Luther King, Jr., who asks her to become his coordinator in the North, and she visits black churches all over America to help support King’s Poor People’s March.

But once again tragedy strikes. King is assassinated, and this time Angelou completely withdraws from the world, unable to deal with this horrible event. Finally, James Baldwin forces her out of isolation and insists that she accompany him to a dinner party—where the idea for writing I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is born. In fact, A Song Flung Up to Heaven ends as Maya Angelou begins to write the first sentences of Caged Bird.

Critic reviews

Praise for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“I know that not since the days of my childhood, when people in
books were more real than the people one saw every day,
have I found myself so moved.”
—James Baldwin

Gather Together in My Name

“Gather Together in My Name is part of a select body of literature that includes The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Claude Brown’s
Manchild in the Promised Land and Ernest J. Gaines’
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Maya Angelou
regards the world and herself with intelligence and wit; she records the events of her life with style and grace.”
—William McPherson, The Washington Post Book World

All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes

“This is a superb account by a great woman who has embraced a
difficult destiny with rare intelligence and
infectious joie de vivre.”
— The Boston Globe

WE DIDN'T DESERVE HER!

Absolutely loved and appreciate the voice of Dear Mother Maya! Her wisdom, grace, poise, power, elegance, and eloquence astounds me with every syllable written or spoken. Do yourself and your children a favor and give them the gift of hearing one of the GREATEST TO EVER LIVE!!!

Maya is awesome

Exactly what I needed to hear. She showed me that 40 is an awesome age to start my next chapter

What a life!

I could listen to Ms. Angelou tell stories all day.
The stories in this book are particularly amazing, as you see who she was friends with, what they were doing together to help the country.
Any story that has James Baldwin, Martin Luther king Junior, Malcolm X, her brother, mother, or son in them, you have my attention.
Enjoy…😊
Gail Russell
Santa Barbara, California

best book I have listened to

This was excellent. It is amazing the various things Angelou has done. Having her read it was so neat. She is interesting whether she is talking about family interactions, setting up for job and living in a new city, or very dramatic historic events such as Watts explosions.

Fantastic

Truly enjoyed hearing this title. Her voice inflections and tone added to the book's value for me. I appreciated hearing her honest depiction of life events. Maya Angelou's writing style allowed me to feel moments of joy and of pain.