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.

We Should All Be Feminists

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Publication year 2014

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Femininity, Equality, Perseverance, Community

Tags Gender & Feminism, Women`s Studies, Social Justice, Politics & Government

“We Should All Be Feminists” is an essay by Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Adichie is also the author of the novels Half of a Yellow Sun, which won the Orange Prize, and Americanah, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. “We Should All Be Feminists” is based on Adichie’s December 2012 TED talk. In the essay’s introduction, Adichie states that her aim in delivering the speech was to challenge stereotypical notions of feminism.Adichie... Read We Should All Be Feminists Summary

We Were Eight Years in Power

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Publication year 2017

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Justice

Tags Race & Racism, Black Lives Matter, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy is a collection of essays by Ta-Nehisi Coates, a regular contributor to The Atlantic and a commentator on matters of race, Black identity, and White supremacy. Published in 2017, the collection focuses on what accounts for America’s inability to escape its White supremacist past, the impact of the Obama presidency on American culture and the writer, and the enduring impact of slavery on the country; the... Read We Were Eight Years in Power Summary

What the Eyes Don’t See

by Mona Hanna-Attisha

Publication year 2018

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Family

Tags Health, Politics & Government, Science & Nature, World History, Social Justice

What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City (2018) is pediatrician, scientist, and public health advocate Mona Hanna-Attisha’s (Dr. Mona) debut book that provides an in-depth look at the government’s poisoning of Flint residents and subsequent coverup. This story, according to Dr. Mona, is also about much deeper crises that the broader American society is currently facing: a breakdown in local democracy; misguided austerity policies; environmental injustices... Read What the Eyes Don’t See Summary

When They Call You a Terrorist

by Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Asha Bandele

Publication year 2018

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Justice

Tags Race & Racism, Black Lives Matter, Gender & Feminism, Social Justice, Politics & Government, Biography

When They Call You a Terrorist is a nonfiction memoir published in 2018 by the American authors and activists Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele. Subtitled A Black Lives Matter Memoir, the book chronicles Cullors’s early life in Los Angeles and her role in cofounding Black Lives Matter, a decentralized racial justice movement established after George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the Trayvon Martin shooting. The book’s title refers to accusations of terrorism lobbed at Cullors and her... Read When They Call You a Terrorist Summary

Where We Stand

by bell hooks

Publication year 2000

Genre Essay Collection, Nonfiction

Themes Gender Identity, Race, Social Class, Community, Economics, Justice

Tags Gender & Feminism, Race & Racism, Social Class, Social Justice, Politics & Government

... Read Where We Stand Summary

White by Law

by Ian Haney-López

Publication year 1996

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Community, Economics, Politics & Government

Tags Education, Education, Sociology, World History, Race & Racism, Crime & Law, Politics & Government, Social Justice, US History

... Read White by Law Summary

White Fragility

by Robin DiAngelo

Publication year 2018

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Justice

Tags Race & Racism, Social Justice, Black Lives Matter, Sociology, World History, Psychology, Psychology, Self-Improvement, Politics & Government

Published in 2018, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo received critical acclaim and became a New York Times Bestseller for explaining how white people should address racism in the moment and how they can move into a new, healthier, less racist paradigm. DiAngelo holds a PhD in multicultural education and specializes in critical racial and social justice education.Plot SummaryDiAngelo stresses that all white people play... Read White Fragility Summary

White Guilt

by Shelby Steele

Publication year 2006

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Justice, Community

Tags Race & Racism, US History, Sociology, World History, Philosophy, Philosophy, Social Justice, Arts & Culture, Politics & Government

White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era is a 2006 nonfiction book by Shelby Steele, a Black conservative author who specializes in the study of race relations in the US. This guide refers to the e-book published in 2009 by HarperCollins. The title points to the book’s central theme: white guilt—the loss of moral authority—and the damaging responses it elicited in Black and White Americans in the... Read White Guilt Summary

White Rage

by Carol Anderson

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Justice, Community

Tags Sociology, Politics & Government, Black Lives Matter, Race & Racism, US History, World History, Social Justice

Carol Anderson's 2016 nonfiction book, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, looks at the way African-American progress has been halted and repressed, again and again, by a powerful cocktail of economic self-interest, fear, and hatred on the part of America's white elites, a philosophy she calls "white rage." The book’s five chapters examine five crucial turning points in the African-American struggle for freedom and equality: Reconstruction and the abolition of slavery, the... Read White Rage Summary

White Trash

by Nancy Isenberg

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Social Class, Community, Nation, Justice

Tags Sociology, US History, Social Class, Social Justice, Race & Racism, Business & Economics, World History, Politics & Government

IntroductionIn White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, Nancy Isenberg documents the historical and contemporary disdain of the upper and middle classes in America for the white poor and the resultant staying power of a class hierarchy. Isenberg, an award-winning historian, uses her expertise to contribute this non-fictional work to the academic literature on social class. Originally published in 2016, the book became a New York Times bestseller and was a finalist... Read White Trash Summary