Spoilt Rotten: The Toxic Cult of Sentimentality

The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America

D. Watkins · 192 pages

We Gon' Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation

Jeff Chang · 200 pages

"In his most recent book, Who We Be, Jeff Chang looked at how art and culture effected massive social changes in American society. Since the book was published, the country has been gripped by waves of racial discord, most notably the protests in Ferguson, Missouri. In these highly relevant, powerful essays, Chang examines some of the most contentious issues in the current discussion of race and i

Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America

Linda Tirado · 240 pages

"I've been waiting for this book for a long time. Well, not this book, because I never imagined that the book I was waiting for would be so devastatingly smart and funny, so consistently entertaining and unflinchingly on target. In fact, I would like to have written it myself - if, that is, I had lived Linda Tirado's life and extracted all the hard lessons she has learned. I am the author of Nicke

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race

Reni Eddo-Lodge · 272 pages

In 2014, award-winning journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote on her blog about her frustration with the way that discussions of race and racism in Britain were being led by those who weren't affected by it. Her words hit a nerve. The post went viral and comments flooded in from others desperate to speak up about their own experiences. Galvanised, she decided to dig into the source of these feelings. Ex

The Age of Kali: Indian Travels & Encounters

William Dalrymple · 385 pages

In Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India itself, William Dalrymple searches for evidence of Kali Yug, the Hindu "age of darkness." Venturing to places rarely visited by foreigners, he travels deep into guerilla territory with the Tamil Tigers. Visits Benazir Bhutto and meets the drug lords of the North West Frontier. He inveils a region where the strengths and problems of both modernity and tradition rema

Against Football: One Fan's Reluctant Manifesto

Steve Almond · 178 pages

Argues that not only is American football hazardous to players' health, and especially to their brains, but also that American support of the sport encourages violence, prejudices, and other ethically troubling behavior.

Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man's Education

Mychal Denzel Smith · 240 pages

"A prominent journalist and contributing writer to The Nation magazine describes his education and the experiences of black masculinity against a backdrop of the Obama administration, the death of Trayvon Martin, the career of LeBron James and other pivotal influences that have shaped race relations in today's America,"--NoveList. How do you learn to be a black man in America? For young black men

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion

Jia Tolentino · 303 pages

Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America

Robert Hughes · 210 pages

Bad Feminist

Roxane Gay · 360 pages

A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay. "Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink, all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I'm not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once l

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America

Michael Eric Dyson · 228 pages

Fifty years ago, when a white woman asked Malcolm X what she could do for the cause, he told her "Nothing." Now, Michael Eric Dyson believes he was wrong and responds that if society is to make real racial progress, people must face difficult truths-- including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted.

Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future

Jennifer Baumgardner, Amy Richards · 240 pages

The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell Phone: Reflections on India, the Emerging 21st-Century Power

Shashi Tharoor · 498 pages

Documents the transformation of India from a largely underdeveloped region into an innovative society, profiling it as one of the world's scientific and technological leaders while providing insight into its political, economic, and cultural climate.

Between the World and Me

Ta-Nehisi Coates · 155 pages

An Amazon Best Book of July 2015: Readers of his work in The Atlantic and elsewhere know Ta-Nehisi Coates for his thoughtful and influential writing on race in America. Written as a series of letters to his teenaged son, his new memoir, Between the World and Me, walks us through the course of his life, from the tough neighborhoods of Baltimore in his youth, to Howard University—which Coates dubs “

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement

Angela Y. Davis · 176 pages

>In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar **Angela Y. Davis** illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world.

We Should All Be Feminists

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · 64 pages

In this essay -- adapted from her TEDx talk of the same name -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning author of Americanah, offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author's exploration

Cafe Europa: Life After Communism

Slavenka Drakulic · 256 pages

The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race

Clint Smith · 240 pages

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner · 320 pages

*A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything* Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime? These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But

I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America after Twenty Years Away

Bill Bryson · 381 pages

After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens--as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss

End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World

Naomi Klein, Astra Taylor

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

Barack Obama · 384 pages

Senator Obama calls for a different brand of politics--a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the "endless clash of armies" we see in Congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of our democracy. He explores those forces--from the fear of losing, to the perpetual need to raise money, to the power

Eating Animals

Jonathan Safran Foer · 341 pages

After spending much of his life shifting between various omnivore and herbivore eating habits, the author presents a thought provoking look at why and how humans choose their diets. Delivering the pros and cons of eating meat, he invites readers on an insightful exploration into the many facets of food. Brilliantly synthesizing philosophy, literature, science, memoir, and his own detective work,

Capital: A Portrait of Twenty-First Century Delhi

Rana Dasgupta · 455 pages

"In Capital, Commonwealth Prize-winning author Rana Dasgupta examines one of the great trends of our time: the expansion of the global elite. Capital is an intimate portrait of the city of Delhi which bears witness to the extraordinary transmogrification of India's capital. But it also offers a glimpse of what capitalism will become in the coming, post-Western world. The story of Delhi is a parabl