The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (Book Review)
The essays in The 1619 Project, created and edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones and the New York Times Magazine, are more vital reading than ever. This week’s events at the Supreme Court have proven that. We’re watching the dismantling of privacy and human rights here in...Lily Geismer — Left Behind (Book Review)
Lily Geismer covers tremendous political, social, and historical ground in Left Behind: The Democrats’ Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality. Starting with mindset changes in the post-Carter, Reagan-era Democratic Party, Geismer works through fifty years of policies....Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead (Book Review)
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead is a multi-layered book. The publisher promotes it as, “… a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s.” And yes, all of that is in there. But Whitehead also waxes philosophical about...Michelle Duster — Ida B. the Queen (Book Review)
Michelle Duster is the great-granddaughter of her subject, Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells. Her family preserves the legacy of this important woman. They deserve sincere kudos for keeping her memory alive because it’s inspiring to...Bakari Sellers — My Vanishing Country (Book Review)
Bakari Sellers addresses a few themes in his memoir, My Vanishing Country. Primarily, he talks about being a young black man in rural South Carolina. But his family is also intricately tied to the Civil Rights movement, so this connection influences him daily. He also...The Warmth of Other Suns — Isabel Wilkerson (Book Review)
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration is Isabel Wilkerson’s first tour de force, published in 2010. Her second is Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, which I reviewed earlier this year. Reading them in reverse order didn’t change the...Vanguard — Martha S. Jones (Book Review)
Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones made me rethink Black women’s activism. Most importantly, that activism started a full century sooner than I realized. And it happened through four primary...Two Books About Oppression, Feminism, and Social Justice
Despite my chosen title, these books aren’t solely about oppression. They are inspiring and educational, albeit heavy reads. Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 is history, biography, poetry, and introspection. Headscarves and Hymens:...Jarrett Adams — Redeeming Justice (Book Review)
Jarrett Adams tells his alternately inspiring and maddening story in Redeeming Justice: From Defendant to Defender, My Fight for Equity on Both Sides of a Broken System. At 17, he attended a college party with two of his buddies. Before the night was out, they had...Carol Anderson — One Person, No Vote (Book Review)
In 2018 I saw Carol Anderson speak about One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy. I’d just spent my first campaign season knocking doors to canvass for candidates I cared about. Anderson’s talk convinced me that voter suppression is the...Tanya Talaga: Seven Fallen Feathers (Book Review)
Canadian journalist Tanya Talaga investigates a series of tragic deaths among First Nations youth in Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City. She walks a fine line between emotion and distance, based on her own connections as a member...Isabel Wilkerson: Caste (Book Review) — A Racial Justice Must Read
Isabel Wilkerson writes about devastating history in Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. It’s long, intense, and absolutely necessary to read. Thinking of the social and societal issues around race as based in a complicated caste system makes perfect sense. And...Sarah M. Broom: The Yellow House (Book Review)
Sarah M. Broom creates a tour de force memoir in The Yellow House. And truthfully, it’s so much more. It’s about her family, her childhood, and the house she grew up in. But it’s also about her home city, New Orleans, including the politics, the racial divide, and the...Charles Person — Buses Are a Comin’: Memoir of a Freedom Rider (Book Review)
Charles Person was the youngest person on the 1961 Freedom Ride. He was younger even than the legendary John Lewis, who went on to represent an Atlanta area district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Now, Person tells his story in Buses Are a Comin’: Memoir of a...Mona Hanna-Attisha Fights for the Children in What the Eyes Don’t See (Book Review)
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha wrote What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City to tell what happened in Flint, Michigan. But it’s not just her story. It’s the story of her clinic, her city, her state, and her country. And they are...Bookshop.Org Affiliate
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