With Bell Hook’s Death, We’ve Lost a Powerhouse Feminist Thinker and Writer

It's a bit ironic that the feminist thinker and prolific author bell hooks insisted on using all lowercase letters for her name because her prowess and influence are such that the letters actually should be in ALL CAPS.

Earlier this week, hooks died at the age of 69--a second death this week that has left us shaking our heads in sorrow. Born Gloria Jean Watkins on Sept. 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville, Ky., hooks took the name of her beloved great grandmother for her writing and chose to go without capital letters to emphasize, she often said, the “substance of books, not who I am.”