Preview
  • A Song Flung Up to Heaven

  • By: Maya Angelou
  • Narrated by: Maya Angelou
  • Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (296 ratings)

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A Song Flung Up to Heaven

By: Maya Angelou
Narrated by: Maya Angelou
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Publisher's summary

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.

©2002 Maya Angelou (P)2002 Random House Inc., Random House Voices, an Imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group
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Critic reviews

  • Grammy Award Winner, Best Spoken Word Album, 2002

What listeners say about A Song Flung Up to Heaven

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    5 out of 5 stars

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!!!

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1 person found this helpful

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Maya is awesome

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

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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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

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

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6 people found this helpful

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Rich with history and her-story.

this book touched my soul and reminded me of the struggles of Afroamericans and how we must continue to fight for the cause.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Maya Angelou, always inspiring!

Listening to Maya Angelou read her own book is an amazing adventure. She is educational & informational in an entertaining way!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Inspiring look at the past

Reminiscences of her responses to the deaths of two great men and how they affected her life. Great story and a look back at a turbulent time in American history.

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Maya

Maya journey is so beautiful written. The world misses a unique person who experience a marvelous journey.

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Great

Loved it and Maya was a great story teller and I felt like I was part of her life.

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