Contemporary Books on Social Justice

Social justice is the pursuit of fairness in society based on the belief that all people deserve equal opportunities and rights. We curated the following study guide collection (including books for middle-grade and young adult readers) to help readers get the most out of books that cover contemporary issues and topics in social justice.

Publication year 2019

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Gender

Tags Gender / Feminism, Women's Studies (Nonfiction), Mystery / Crime Fiction, Journalism, History: World, Social Justice, Politics / Government


Publication year 1984

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Relationships: Mothers, Values/Ideas: Equality, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Identity: Sexuality, Identity: Race, Society: Community

Tags Race / Racism, LGBTQ, Social Justice, Gender / Feminism, Women's Studies (Nonfiction), Classic Fiction, Politics / Government


Publication year 2020

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Femininity, Identity: Disability, Self Discovery, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Values/Ideas: Equality, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride

Tags Disability, Social Justice, Gender / Feminism, Biography


Publication year 1933

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice

Tags Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Race / Racism, Black Lives Matter, Civil Rights / Jim Crow, Social Justice, African American Literature

“Slave on the Block” is a short story by Langston Hughes that originally appeared in the September 1933 issue of Scribner's Magazine. The story was later published in The Ways of White Folks, a 1934 collection of Hughes’s short stories.This study guide, based on the 1990 Vintage Classics print edition, quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.Anne and Michael Carraway are affluent white bohemians who live in Greenwich Village—and often visit Harlem—during the... Read Slave on the Block Summary


Publication year 2008

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags History: U.S., Race / Racism, Sociology, History: World, Social Justice, Politics / Government

Written by American journalist Douglas Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II (2008) is a thorough account of the forms of slavery perpetuated by economic disempowerment in the South after the Civil War up to World War II. The book addresses themes like The Intentional Revival of Slavery, The Toxic Mix of White Mythology and Naïve Racism, and Challenges of Confronting the Past. Slavery... Read Slavery by Another Name Summary


Publication year 2019

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil

Tags Incarceration, Race / Racism, Black Lives Matter, Social Justice, African American Literature, History: World, Politics / Government, Biography

Solitary (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2019) is a memoir by the activist Albert Woodfox that recounts more than four decades in solitary confinement, largely at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. It was nominated for the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Woodfox describes how the poverty and racism he endured growing up led him into crime, how the racism of individuals and institutions turned his initial... Read Solitary Summary


Publication year 2022

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Society: Immigration, Relationships: Family

Tags Immigration / Refugee, Race / Racism, Biography, Social Justice


Publication year 2015

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Race

Tags Journalism, Black Lives Matter, Race / Racism, Education, Education, History: U.S., Sociology, History: World, Social Justice, Politics / Government

Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County is a 2015 nonfiction book by Kristen Green about the closing of public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia from 1959 to 1964, following the 1954 United States Supreme Court ruling that school segregation is unconstitutional. During the five years the public schools were closed, black students in Prince Edward County largely went uneducated while a new private school for whites, Prince Edward Academy, opened. The book... Read Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County Summary


Publication year 2020

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Society: Immigration, Society: War, Relationships: Family, Society: Community

Tags Immigration / Refugee, Social Justice, History: World


Publication year 1909

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Society: Class, Self Discovery, Identity: Gender, Natural World: Nurture v. Nature

Tags Social Justice, Naturalism, Education, Education


Publication year 2022

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Colonialism, Society: Nation, Identity: Race

Tags History: U.S., Race / Racism, Social Justice, Southern Literature, Immigration / Refugee, History: World, Travel Literature, Politics / Government


Publication year 2018

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice

Tags Race / Racism, Black Lives Matter, Gender / Feminism, Sociology, Social Justice, Politics / Government

So You Want to Talk About Race is a 2018 non-fiction book written by Ijeoma Oluo, an American author of Nigerian descent whose columns and news articles on race have appeared in The Guardian, The Stranger, and Jezebel, among other places. This guide refers to the first edition published in 2018 by Seal Press. The title gestures to the discourse that is necessary to combat racial oppression in the United States. The book made Bustle’s... Read So You Want to Talk About Race Summary


Publication year 2022

Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Win & Lose, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Relationships: Siblings, Relationships: Teams, Society: Class, Society: Politics & Government

Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Crime / Legal, Incarceration, Social Justice, Finance / Money / Wealth


Publication year 2020

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Nation, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice

Tags Race / Racism, Social Justice, Politics / Government, History: U.S., African American Literature, Sociology, History: World


Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Music

Tags African American Literature, History: U.S., Civil Rights / Jim Crow, Black Lives Matter, Race / Racism, Sociology, History: World, Social Justice, Politics / Government

Ibrahim Kendi’s comprehensive history of racial thought in the US, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, was published in 2016 and won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Kendi has also collaborated author Jason Reynolds (Long Way Down, Ain't Burned All the Bright) on a young adult "remix" of Stamped from the Beginning titled Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, and is well known for his 2019 book, How to... Read Stamped From the Beginning Summary


Publication year 2020

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice

Tags Black Lives Matter, Civil Rights / Jim Crow, Race / Racism, Children's Literature, History: World, Social Justice, Politics / Government

Jason Reynolds’s Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (2020) is a nonfiction book by the American authors Jason Reynolds and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. It is a self-described “remix” of Kendi’s 2016 National Book Award winner Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. An award-winning writer of young adult fiction and poetry, Reynolds frames America’s history of racist ideas for an audience of middle school and high school readers. Reynolds’s remix... Read Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You Summary


Publication year 2022

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Natural World: Space & The Universe, Society: Education, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos, Society: Community, Identity: Gender

Tags Science / Nature, Philosophy, History: World, Politics / Government, Animals, Education, Diversity, Disability, Food, Health / Medicine, Internet Culture / Social Media, Military / War, Race / Racism, Religion / Spirituality, Social Justice, Technology, Philosophy


Publication year 2019

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Equality, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice

Tags History: U.S., Race / Racism, Politics / Government, Social Justice, History: World


Publication year 1953

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Race, Society: Nation, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger

Tags Race / Racism, History: U.S., Social Justice


Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Natural World: Climate, Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Place, Society: Class, Society: Community, Society: Economics, Society: Nation, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Equality

Tags Sociology, Politics / Government, History: U.S., American Literature, Social Science, Business / Economics, History: World, Social Justice

Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (2016) is an in-depth exploration of the rise of the Tea Party movement in Louisiana by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild. In an effort to understand the Tea Party and bolster her empathy for political opinions oppositional to her own, Hochschild spent five years getting to know residents and conducting interviews in and around Lake Charles, Louisiana. Hochschild argues that by understanding one another’s... Read Strangers in Their Own Land Summary