Inciting Joy: Essays

Inciting Joy: Essays

by Ross Gay

4.4 (283)

4.4 stars from 283 reviews

256 pages~4.3 hr readPublished by Hodder & StoughtonPublished 2022-01-01

$1.99Deal90% off peak

Last checked: Jul 20, 2026

Price history: $1.99 $19.95

Buy now — this is the lowest price we've seen.

Price range: $1.99 $19.95

Buy on Amazon - $1.99

0 readers are tracking this book's price

Fans of these authors will like this...

  • Ocean Vuong
  • Maggie Nelson
  • adrienne maree brown

Fans of these books will like this...

  • The Wager
  • Braiding Sweetgrass
  • You Deserve Each Other

Perfect for you if...

  • You're drawn to essays that feel like conversations with someone genuinely wise, who doesn't pretend hardship and hope are mutually exclusive.
  • You've felt a shift in how you see the world through small acts of care and want language that names that shift.
  • You're exhausted by divisiveness and looking for writing that points toward what we're building rather than what we're tearing down.

Maybe not for you if...

  • You prefer narrative-driven memoirs where the author's personal story is the main event rather than a launching point for bigger ideas.
  • You want practical how-to advice or step-by-step solutions; Gay's essays are meditative and exploratory, not prescriptive.
  • You're looking for polished academic theory; this is deeply personal philosophy written with a poet's attention to language and contradiction.

About this book

Inciting Joy is a collection of essays by Ross Gay that examines joy as it emerges from human connection. Through carefully written pieces, Gay considers how caring for one another—particularly during difficult times—creates joy and explores ways to recognize and expand that connection. The essays address injustice, political polarization, and environmental destruction while considering how the study of joy might foster solidarity and aid survival. Gay asks what becomes possible when attention turns toward shared values and what people love, offering an alternative to divisive discourse. The book won the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for Memoir/Nonfiction and was named a best book of 2022 by the Boston Globe, Publishers Weekly, Shelf Awareness, Salon.com, and the San Francisco Chronicle. It was also selected as a best audiobook of 2022 by BookPage.

Get the best deal every time

We track price drops, sale patterns, and predict when this book will go on offer next.

Price History

Kindle price over time. Green zones = periods when the book was free.

Sign up to unlock
Free$9.97$19.95Mar '22Jan '24Feb '25Jul '26
$1.99$19.95

Currently on sale at $1.99 — 90% off peak. Price has dropped 11 times over the last 4 years. Goes on sale roughly every 149 days. Typically stays discounted for 10 days.

Sales Rank

Amazon sales rank: lower number = better selling book. #1 is the bestseller.

Sign up to unlock
#3,173#651,107#1,299,040Apr '22Oct '23Jan '25Jul '26

Currently around #60K in the Kindle store — a steady mid-list seller. Sales have softened 23% recently.

Rating & Reviews

Purple line = star rating over time. Blue area = total review count growth.

Sign up to unlock
3.5★4.3★5.0★May '23Sep '23May '24Sep '25RatingReviews

Currently 4.4★ from 283 reviews

Gaining approximately 5 new reviews per month. Rating has remained stable at 4.5 over the tracking period.

Sale Prediction

Sign up to unlock
Free$9.97$19.95Mar '22Jan '24Feb '25Jul '26PredictedJul '26

Actual Predicted

This book is currently discounted at $1.99. It typically returns to around $19.95.

Prices shown in USD from Amazon US. We continuously pull new data to improve tracking. If dates look old, it usually means there has been no significant change since the last data point.

Curious how prices and deals move across the whole Kindle store? See the latest findings in The Kindle Report

Never miss a deal on this book

Create a free account to unlock full price history charts, sale predictions, and get notified instantly when the price drops.

Ross Gay

1 book on Vagrant Press

View all books →

More Nonfiction books you might like

View all Nonfictionbooks →

Today's Best Deals

View all deals →
Buy Inciting Joy: Essays on Amazon - $1.99

Affiliate link. We may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.