Unbowed: A Memoir

From the first African woman--and the first environmentalist--to win the Noble Peace Prize comes her powerfully inspiring memoir. Founder of the Green Belt Movement Maathai recounts the obstacles and motivations that have guided her to lead a singularly uncommon life. In Unbowed, Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai recounts her extraordinary journey from her childhood in rural Kenya to the world stage.

When Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, she began a vital poor people's environmental movement, focused on the empowerment of women, that soon spread across Africa. Persevering through run-ins with the Kenyan government and personal losses, and jailed and beaten on numerous occasions, Maathai continued to fight tirelessly to save Kenya's forests and to restore democracy to her beloved country. Infused with her unique luminosity of spirit, Wangari Maathai's remarkable story of courage, faith, and the power of persistence is destined to inspire generations to come.